Today I was out of bed, showered, dressed, finished eating breakfast, back from a thirty minute stroll with Mumma and was out in the cool breeze sunbaking, all before the clock had ticked over to 10:00am.

A usual morning for me however, is one where I am not even aware the day begins before 10:00am, so given all of todays morning activities, I would have to say that it was definately a success.

In fact, if today is anything to go by, then April; I think you had better look out.

When it comes down to it, I like to consider myself to be a little bit braver than most. However, those of you who know me, would probably know better and considering I’m still slightly afraid of the dark, you would probably be right.

As far as fears go, spiders and bugs and anything creepy crawly would be on the very top of my list. That being said, you can understand why finding a giant spider in my shower this morning, was completely terrifying to say the least.

To make matters worse, this giant spider that decided he would like to shower with me today, didn’t actually catch my eye until I was in there with him and all the doors were closed.

There I was, just about to turn on the water and start washing myself, when out of nowhere I saw a giant Huntsman spider the size of my head, staring right back at me. I’m not sure if any instincts at all kicked in at that stage, other than screaming at the top of my lungs, because no matter how hard my brain tried to send the messages to the rest of my body, I was still completely frozen.

Eventually though, I had worked up enough courage to move and let me just say, I have never before in my life moved as fast as I did this morning.

If any of you have ever had the pleasure of using my shower, then you would know that with all of the doors closed you really don’t have all that much room to move and given that there was a spider the size of my head taking up half of the shower, I had even less room to wriggle my way out of there.

It’s all a little bit of a blur now, possibly because I’m still suffering from post traumatic stress, but somehow I managed to make it out of there alive. Needless to say, as fun as it was showering with my furry little friend today, I think it’s safe to say that I will be checking the shower from top to bottom from now on.

To all of the lovely people who decided to leave me a birthday message, compliments of the amazing photobooth that I had at my birthday celebration, thank you for the countless laughs; you have just made my day.

In fact, I don’t think I remember laughing as hard as I just did, watching all of the beautiful drunken things everyone had to say that night.

With a total of thirty-four video messages left in the booth, one of which was left by me might I add, we apparently hold the record for the most video messages ever left at a private event. So to all of those beautiful people who were either brave enough or drunk enough to go in and say something to make me smile, thank you. I appreciate it more than you will ever know.

To all of my wonderful drunken friends, I wish you could see all of the things that I just saw.

To all of my wonderful friends who weren’t drunk, I bet you didn’t realise fifteen seconds was such a long time. Until of course, you were thrown into a photobooth and told to talk to a camera.

To all of my wonderful friends who stared blankly at the screen, watching the timer count down from fifteen to zero, patiently waiting for the recording to start; you will be pleased to know that it had in fact already started. Don’t worry though, you all looked beautiful standing there staring blankly into space.

To everyone who was too drunk to remember just what they said that night, I now have it all saved on disc, ready to show you any time that you’re interested and believe it or not, it’s one of those things where each time you watch it the more entertaining it becomes.

Trust me.

Today I went to my very first aqua aerobics class with Mumma since before I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue almost two years ago and despite being shown up by a pool full of Grandma’s, I would have to admit that I was fairly impressed with my efforts.

I may not have been able to keep up with the best of them, but I did manage to stay standing in the pool for the entire class.

I may not have been strong enough to do the exercises that the instructor was teaching, but that didn’t stop me from grabbing a spare pool noodle and slowly wading my way through the water, floating around with a smile on my face.

I may not have looked like your usual fit and healthy twenty-one year old girl and considering I was slower than the two eighty year old ladies swimming next to me, I would say that was probably the case, but I was determined to get back there.

My fitness levels may not have been anywhere near where they were this time a few years ago, but compared to this time just one year ago, I was lucky to even be out of my bed and into a swimming pool.

So despite being shown up by a pool full of Grandma’s today, as well as my very own Mumma for that matter, I was just happy to be in the pool with them, floating around without a care in the world.

It didn’t matter that I wasn’t the fittest in the pool today and it didn’t matter that I spent the rest of the day sleeping. After my efforts this morning, all that mattered was that I was officially one step closer to where I wanted to be. I was officially moving forward in my recovery and I could not have been more excited.

After all, who knows. Give me a few more classes and a couple of months to work my way up to it and maybe I’ll be the one showing those Grandma’s just how it’s done.

At about 9:45pm last night, something completely out of the ordinary happened.

It was after a date at Gold Class with my boy, while we were finishing off our night with a few games in Timezone, when a man whom I had never met before reminded me that despite all of the terrible people in this world, there were actually still a few good ones out there.

During the middle of a rather serious ‘bowl the ball down the alley and try and get the highest score’ competition, a single man who appeared to be watching us caught my attention. It was his body language that I noticed at first and as he came closer, I found myself feeling a little uneasy. He stayed watching us for a little while longer and by this point, I was becoming uncomfortable. As far as I knew, he had done nothing wrong and yet the feeling in the pit of my tummy was telling me otherwise.

Eventually, he approached us and I took a step back, allowing Boyfriend to do the talking. As it turns out, he was standing around watching us because he wasn’t quite sure what to say. He was feeling far too nervous to approach us, yet all he wanted was to offer us his playing card. He had put twenty dollars on a playing card at the beginning of the night but had since changed his mind. He had only played three games in that time and was insisting that we play out the rest.

He went on to tell us that he was by himself and wasn’t overly enjoying it and that from what he saw, we appeared to be having much more fun with it all. We of course said thank you, but continued to explain that he could instead take it home with him and bring it back another time. He shook his head and he smiled, still insisting that he would prefer it if we used it instead. Then just as quickly as he had approached us, he was gone again, leaving Boyfriend with an extra playing card and leaving me feeling completely ashamed of my judgemental first impressions.

There he was, a lovely young man who was going out of his way to do a kind and selfless gesture and there I was, immediately thinking the worst of his awkward behaviour. When in actual fact, he was nothing like I had first thought and as it turned out, his awkward behaviour was well and truly warranted. He was just a normal, kind hearted man, who like most of us, was a little nervous at the thought of approaching a pair of complete strangers.

It was then, in that exact moment, that I started thinking. I didn’t set out to think the worst in this person and yet it almost happened instinctively. Somewhere along the way, something had changed. When had I stopped searching for the good in people and started assuming the worst?

Then just like that, it hit me.

Although we may not realise it, all of the terrible things that happen in this world, regardless of whether they may or may not impact us directly, still have a way of affecting our attitude towards life. Just as all of those terrible people out there, regardless of whether we may or may not know them personally, still have a way of altering how we perceive the world.

Society has a way of forcing us to believe the world is a negative place and although in reality at times that may very well be true, that doesn’t mean we should allow it to change the way in which we live our lives.

Although there may very well be terrible people in this world, for every one terrible person that we may meet, there is still at least three beautiful people out there, who perhaps we haven’t met yet. People who truly do mean well, but people we too often overlook because we’re always so busy assuming the worst.

Last night, I met one of the beautiful ones. One of the ones who truly do mean well. Last night I came across a man, who despite all the terrible people in this world forcing us to lose all faith in humanity, reminded me that beautiful people really do still exist. One single man, with one simple random act of kindness, who reminded me that maybe the world really isn’t such a bad place after all.

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill; the inspiration behind our recent trip to the Hunter Valley.

To be completely honest though, I don’t actually think that he was up to the same standards as he was in his concert last year. Maybe my expectations were a little too high or maybe it was just the different environment, but either way he just wasn’t the same stud that I remember him being.

Now don’t get me wrong, he’s still crazy handsome, Faith is still just as beautiful as ever and together they have the voice of a Country angel.  So in theory, they should have been like fireworks out there on stage, but I guess for me, it just didn’t quite come together tonight.

Dierks on the other hand though, he was the surprise of the trip. If he ever came back touring Australia, well that would be one performance that I just could not miss. Mr. Dierks Bentley, it was only an hour or two, but you well and truly won me over.

Now that it’s all said and done though, the reasons we bought tickets in the first place don’t really matter all that much. Thinking back, it’s not the good or the bad performances that made this weekend amazing, but the company that I shared those performances with.

 Which considering I was in one of the most beautiful wine countries that I have ever seen, with my clown of a big Brother, my party animal of a Dadda, my beautiful bestfriend of a Mumma and an endless supply of Live Country Music, I would say it doesn’t get much more amazing than that.

 Last night, while Brother was busy out in the mosh pit with the rest of the world and their cowboy boots, Mumma, Dadda and I went to one of the local Hunter Valley restaurants for dinner, because we all know that this little country bumpkin loves her food more than she loves to mosh; it’s a fact.

It was in the middle of ordering dinner that I got quite the surprise. The last thing that I expected to see as I sat down at the table browsing through the menu was a sign leading into a cosy little room that read ’Library’, yet right there in the middle of a homely little restaurant, sat a beautiful old library; just incase you wanted to pass the time while you waited for your meal.

Now as you probably already are aware, I’m not usually a library book kind of girl. Chances are I am more likely to sit impatiently and wait for my meal than go and visit a book shelf, but today I was feeling adventurous. There was just something about this bookshelf that was beautifully intriguing.

Still, if we’re being completely honest, I didn’t actually go in there and sit down for a quick read. I did however pretend to read, whilst Mumma took numerous photos of a girl ‘trying to act studious’. Which, to tell you the truth, was much more fun that actually reading.

Don’t worry though, I made sure to pick up a book that I might actually read someday, I’m not that silly. ‘Gone with the Wind’ I believe it was.

So someday, if we ever go back there to visit my giant edible Kangaroo, then who knows, I might even pay another little visit to my beautifully intriguing bookshelf and who knows, I might just find that tale of ‘Gone with the Wind’ again and see where it takes me.

Now I know that I said the giant lolly Kangaroo was the highlight of my day yesterday and I still stand by the fact that it was. However, that was before last nights performance by Mr. Dierks Bentley and might I just say that he comes in a very, very close second.

In fact, I would even go as far as to say that he was my favourite performance of this entire weekend so far and considering half of the girls in the crowd decided to take their clothes off mid-song, I would probably say that majority of them would agree with me.

Although I must add, if I was going to stand up on someones shoulders and take my top off in front of a million and one cameras and consequently the entire world, I would atleast make sure that I was wearing a decent bra first. Not these girls though, that was well and truly the last thing on their minds and Dierks, well I can’t say that he was too bothered by the idea either.

After all, he did manage to keep a tally of just how many he saw that night and just between you and I, he might just hold the CMC record after that performance.

Today my Mumma made the most amazing discovery yet; the worlds cutest little Barn, full of deliciously edible treats.

Not only was this Barn the cutest little thing that I had ever laid eyes on and not only was it full of every lolly imaginable, but right there in the centre of the Barn was a giant Kangaroo. A Kangaroo made completely out of different coloured Jelly Beans.

I could hardly believe my eyes.

In fact, I think if it was at all possible, I would have taken that giant masterpiece back home with me in a heartbeat. Considering he seemed to be their main attraction though, I figured the chances of someone noticing he was missing were probably quite high. Well, that and I think he would have been a little too heavy for me to just  ‘sneak’ out.

So instead of stealing him I decided to go with plan B) stand there and smile while Mumma takes countless photos of me with the worlds most delicious Kangaroo, because even if I couldn’t take him home with me, he would still be the highlight of my day.

 A recent flight to the Hunter Valley has proven rather unsuccessful, after not only managing to enable ’Blind Mode’ and ‘Hearing Aid Mode’ on my brand new Iphone, but also somehow forgetting to close the lid on my liquid soap dispenser before packing my toiletries.

Now I’m well aware that I have been known to have the occassional ‘mind blank’ from time to time and I know it has been quite a few years since I’ve had to pack for a flight, but closing the lid on your liquid soap dispenser is just plain common sense. Obviously after todays episode though, common sense is definately something that I am lacking.

In regards to closing my soap dispenser properly, that was clearly something I could have prevented. Luckily though, by the time we got to the hotel and I noticed the leakage, my giant pillow that was shoved in the top of my suitcase had managed to soak up most of the mess. Not so lucky for my pillow it seems, but after a night of air drying it all turned out okay in the end.

The Iphone issue though, let’s be honest, there is not a single thing I could have done to prevent that one. Even now, I still couldn’t tell you what happened and to be honest I don’t really think I could do it again if I tried. All I know is that with absolutely no idea what I actually did and even less of an idea on how to fix it, I was in quite a pickle.

Should this have happened back at home, I’m sure a simple visit to google and the problem would have been solved, but no, of course my lovely brand new Iphone decided to wait until we were a million miles away in the Hunter Valley to start playing tricks on me. Not only did he wait until we were a million miles from home though, but he had the nerve to wait until our had flight landed and all of the Optus shops were closed. 

Thankyou Mr. Iphone, your kindness was much appreciated.

As you can imagine, it didn’t take long before I found myself slowly going insane. No key would work unless you touched it twice and even then it was still luck of the draw whether it would work or not. Oh, and just in case that wasn’t enough irritation for the day, a lovely little lady with quite a high pitched voice had to repeat every button that I touched, twice.

So after hours of double tapping, listening to the worlds most annoying female voice repeat the name of every single key that I touched, I was just about ready to jump off the edge. Which, lucky for me, was about where my knight in shining armor came to the rescue.

My amazing Boyfriend who was of course back home at the time, Googled what I had mistakenly done and was able to give me step by step instructions on how to clean up the mess I had made. It appeared that somehow I had managed to activate voice over, auto text, hearing aid mode and of course last but definately not least, triple click for the home menu. It was a zoo.

 All of this occurred accidently of course, simply because I tried to turn my phone off in a hurry before boarding the plane. Like I said before, technology really is out to get me.

Needless to say, I’ve been more than a little careful with the buttons that I choose to press since then.