Online Dating: Everything You Want To Know (SP)

May 20, 2013 in Dating, Featured, Marriage, Relationships, Technology

This post is sponsored by eHarmony Australia I was recently given the opportunity to interview Sarah Mason, PR and Brand Manager at eHarmony Australia. Being unfamiliar with dating websites myself, I met the Viking through my brother, I thought I’d turn it over to you guys, our readers, to find out what you wanted to know. Here’s what Sarah had to say. Hi Sarah! It’s fantastic to have this opportunity to ask you a few questions my readers have always wondered. Great to speak with you. So tell me, what rate of success do you have? eHarmony has been available [...]

This Week: Goodbyes, Teen Mums and Cats

May 19, 2013 in Featured, Food & Recipes, Friendship, Lifestyle

It’s been a big week for me, hence this post being a day later than it normally is. It was my last day in my current job and I was sad to leave. Oddly, for most people I guess, I wasn’t as sad to leave the people as I was to leave the campus. That might sound weight but hear me out – in the Faculty I left everyone works across 2 campuses, and as I’m moving to the other one I’m likely to see everybody again. Probably quite regularly. Some people even more than I used to. But I [...]

My Child has Osteogenisis Imperfecta and an Unbreakable Spirit

May 10, 2013 in Anecdotes, Children, Family, Health, Mothers, Parenting, Relationships, Stories

Imaging looking at your newborn baby. Their tiny lips their long figures That cute button nose. Now imagine being told to limit the amount of times you hold your baby. That every time you pick him up you need to carefully plan every aspect in handling him or you could seriously injure him. That’s what life is like with a baby born with Osteogenisis Imperfecta. Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI, sometimes known as brittle bone disease, or “Lobstein syndrome”) is a congenital bone disorder. People with OI are born with defective connective tissue, or without the ability to make it, usually because of [...]

A Moment of Perfection

May 9, 2013 in Anecdotes, Family, Self, Stories

Standing on my parents’ balcony, looking over the edge. A whip bird cry some metres away. The distant sounds of a wallaby startled and bounding away through the bush. It’s warm, and I stand there in my red t-shirt and bike pants, baggy around my tiny little legs. I dip my cardboard toilet roll into a meadow lea margarine container full of water and morning fresh, the distinct smell fills my nostrils as I raise the roll to my mouth. I blow. Not too hard, not too soft. Just firm enough. The bubble forms at the end of the toilet [...]

An Atheist, a Christian and a Marriage

May 7, 2013 in Dating, Friendship, Lifestyle, Marriage, People, Relationships, Religion, Self

I go to church sometimes. Voluntarily. And I don’t mind (much). But I’m not a signed-up member of any religion, and I don’t plan on joining. When I met my husband, Jelly, three and a half years ago, I hardly knew anyone my age who was serious about religion. Other than the compulsory Christianity most of us get in Anglo Australia (weddings, funerals, scripture classes), my childhood had been pretty secular. My attitude was that church was all a bit silly and anachronistic. Where I did have a Christian friend I avoided discussing it or whispered about it (‘they’re churchy, [...]

Where Do You Draw the Line Between Tragedy and Stupidity?

April 29, 2013 in Family, Health, Lifestyle, News, People, Society, Work

Life can throw curve balls. You could be blissfully happy in your relationship, and next thing you know you are breaking up. You may have found the perfect job, only to be made redundant. You could be completely healthy until an accident renders you paraplegic. The above three things are devastating, but completely out of your control. The last one would even be considered a tragedy. But what if the “tragedy” is self inflicted? What if someone becomes brain damaged because of an overdose of drugs or alcohol? What if someone becomes a paraplegic because they were messing around when they knew better? [...]

This Week: 20 Years, Happily Unmarried

April 27, 2013 in Fashion, Marriage, Relationships, Wedding

This week my partner R and I celebrated 20 years of being happily unmarried. Anniversaries for the unmarried are always difficult to define. R and I have actually known each other for 21 years, so our “anniversary” is an arbitrary date. For us, it’s the 25th April 1993. That’s the day we went on our first “date”. That was the day we stopped being two people who worked in the same office and took our first steps towards becoming “a couple”. It’s also an easy date to remember, being ANZAC Day and all… There are other anniversaries of course – the day we first [...]

This Week: Heart Health, Anniversary & New Jeans

April 20, 2013 in Anecdotes, Comedy, Fashion, Food & Recipes, Health, Humour, Marriage, Nutrition, Stories, Style, Wedding

This week has been, and will continue to be, a busy one. After pulling on my jeans last Thursday morning only to discover they were ripped right in the crotch (stylish, no?) I began my search for the ‘right’ jeans. I had pretty specific ideas of what I wanted in this pair of jeans. They had to be tight, stretchy enough that I could move comfortably, long enough to scrunch a little at the ankle, dark blue in colour, super skinny and high waisted. Not a long list of requirements at all! It took 3 different shopping trips with the [...]

Ask A Brothel Receptionist: Part 2 (NSFW)

April 19, 2013 in Anecdotes, People, Sex, Sexuality, Society, Work

Cassie worked as a receptionist in a brothel. She’s written a series answering the most common questions. This is Part 2. Go here for Part 1 4. Well, I’ve never seen a sex worker. How pathetic are people who have to pay for sex? Don’t you just hate them? Okay, so this one isn’t so much a question as a statement I heard over and over again. And while, admittedly, the clients could drive me nuts sometimes, they were also paying my wage, so they got at least a little bit of my protectiveness as well. Clients aren’t assholes – assholes are [...]

Why I Care New Zealand Voted in Favour of Marriage Equality

April 18, 2013 in Dating, Family, Gender, Health, Human Rights, Marriage, Mental Health, News, People, Politics, Relationships, Sexuality

I’m sure you would know by now New Zealand has voted in favour of marriage equality, winning at 77 to 44. If you haven’t already heard about this, you can read all the details here, but I had to share this news with you even if you already know, purely because I am just so excited and so proud of the country my father is from. Well done New Zealand! I can’t explain how much this news has meant to me. Equality is something I am incredibly passionate about, whether it be discrimination based on race, gender, on gender identity, [...]