Life is Good award from Sydney Shopgirl

Thanks to Sydney Shopgirl for giving me this award.  We are forum friends from way back and recently found out each other had a blog.

The 3 simple rules of the tag are:


Thank and link back to the person that gave you this award

Answer the 10 survey questions (as per below)

Pass this award on to other bloggers you like and notify them by leaving them a comment

 The 10 Survey Questions......

 1. If you blog anonymously, are you happy doing this? If you aren't anonymous, do you wish you started out anonymously, so that you could be anonymous now?

I am out & proud!   If someone who knows me stumbles upon my blog then so be it.  None of my family know about the blog (only Leigh does) and about 3 friends.  I often use initials when blogging about people in my life, that way they can be anonymous.  Leigh is a part of this blog whether he likes it or not (he likes it so no problems!!)  I wanted to be open & honest especially about my experiences with ivf/icsi and  also wanted to be able to post pictures of special times in my life without cropping heads off.  From time to time I wish I had made up a catchy name to hide behind but knowing me I would have ended up giving the game away somehow.
 2. Describe an incident that shows your inner stubborn side.

Mmmm maybe the time of my first visit on holidays from Melbourne to Seaworld on the Gold Coast. It was 1977 and the park was pretty basic back then, everyone was looking at the baby shark but I wanted to pat him even though nobody else was. SO I climbed up on the ledge and put my hand in about to go for the pat when people started shrieking "That little girls got her hand in the shark pool" and my grandpa dragged me away.  I just did not get what all the fuss was about....

OR

Maybe the time I got admitted to hospital with stomach pains. At midday Sunday the Dr came to see me to say I had to have my gallbladder out and I was off to surgery now.  Ummmmmm 200 peopple will not get paid tomorrow if I do not show up for work so against all advice I checked myself out of hospital.  Everyone got paid that Monday (ok I did collapse at work several times) and anyway I wanted time to google about gallbladders and see if I needed mine or not!
3. What do you see when you really look at yourself in the mirror?

The picture of a long running love/hate relationship.  From an early age I was self concious and never liked the way I looked. I think it started at primary school when other kids would ask "where are your parents from?" when I answered Australia they never believed me. There is some Italian and French on my grandfathers side of the family and some of that must of come out in me, like all kids I hated being made feel that I was different. I went to primary school in Melbourne and had many Italian, Greek, Yugoslav etc.. classmates so I do not know why I got picked on for the way I looked. I grew to hate my dark eyes and hair and as soon as I was old enough peroxide and I became friends!

The weight wars started in my teens, although I was not heavy at the time I  was always doing something silly like having cruskits and black coffee for lunch at high school and constantly changing my hair in the hopes, I think of having a new persona.  At times in my life when I have been at my most fit & healthy I have always wanted to lose "just 5 more kilos".  I am my own worst enemy and even on my wedding day after all the professional hair & make up I remember looking at myself in the mirror once I was dressed and saying "Oh well nothing more you can do, this is as good as it gets I'm afraid". 
Maybe one day I will learn to like what I see.......
4. What is your favourite summer cold drink?

Oh boy can't believe I am admitting this but a frozen coke/slurpee is sooooo good on a hot day.
5. When you take time for yourself, what do you do?
Watch movies & all my fave shows, facials, pedicures, surf the web, blog & read. Most of all I just love hanging with Leigh & the 2 papmpered princesses (Celine & Paris).
6. Is there something that you still want to accomplish in your life?
Obviously to become a Mum.  Get to Paris & Italy before I get to old to enjoy it. Have a house in LA and a holiday house on a beach somewhere. Become a burlesque performer a la Dita Von Teese, a playboy bunny, movie star, supermodel, write a book, make a record, look good in hotpants, win an acadamy award. Oh well a girl can dream!!
7. When you attended school, were you the class clown, the class overachiever, the shy person, or always ditching
I was the shy one and still can be in unusual surrounds or with strangers.  School was hard due to us moving several times and always being the new girl, I think I became more shy with each move.
8. If you close your eyes and want to visualize a very poignant moment in your life, what would you see?
The moment Leigh proposed to me, no one had ever made me feel more special or so loved in my whole life. The realisation that some of the bad experiences in my life, have in the long run helped me to be a better person. The day I finally get to meet the child I have been waiting so long for. 
9. Is it easy for you to share your true self in your blog, or are you more comfortable writing posts about other people and events?
Yes I find it easy to be my true self on this blog.  There are times especially in relation to some of the posts on ivf/icsi I wish I could go back and delete BUT I would not only be fooling others but myself.  When I started blogging it was a stress release for me, somewhere to put down my thoughts & emotions that cluttered my head in relation to the ivf process.  I have had messages from people telling me that some of my posts have opened their eyes to what ivf is actually like and for covering all the feelings and things the clinics can not tell you about.  My honesty is a small price to pay in the long run if I am able to help someone in some way. The blog was named Nicole's world and although you may think so, ivf is not my life so I also like to post about all things that interest me.
10. If you had the choice to sit down and read a book or talk on the phone, which would you choose and why?
Can I do both? Not at the same time of course as I always like to give something my full attention.  I love getting drawn into a good book that you can not put down but, over the years with friends moving away etc... I learned to love a good chat on the phone. In fact after Leigh & I met we had 6 weeks of phone dating before I would agree to go to dinner with him.

Now for some bloggers I would like to pass this award on to:

Emmie Gemmie at Desert Darling

Sammie at Marriage Renovations and....

Onika at A freckle to the left

Candace at Loft32

Danielle at Fats in fatty