Merry Christmas to everyone!



I have a new e-card online, thanks to Lauren for her Flash skills! :)

E-card - short version



Full version with 5 verses, credits and more!! - you need to watch right to the end or you miss out!

I have some exciting news. I have recently been appointed as Senior Corporate Records Officer at the State Library of WA. This is a great opportunity for me and recognises my skills gained in my previous job as Classifier at UWA. This position will see me supervising 2 staff which will be a great experience as well as managing the records section of the State Library.



I will be working in the Alexander Library Building but I'm not sure exactly where yet. I start on the 29th of November.



I also got my pocket PC and have got it all working - now to get some bluetooth headphones. I am going to save up to get them. Headphone wires have got to be the dodgiest wires know to man. Even my Sony headphones died in less than two years!

Melbourne Cup!

Answers to FAQs

Yes I did go in the $2 sweep

No my horse (On A Jeune) did not win me anything

Yes I did wear a hat

No we did not have a hat competition (nor did anyone else wear a hat)

Archives and Records hosted a lovely lunch at the Irwin Street Building with the rest of the Secretariat, some members of the Registrar's Office plus a few extras.

Archive & Records were in desperate need for a snappy name for our yet to our "Generic Record Keeping Application." So we ran a competition for the new name, with the winner to be announced at the Melbourne Cup lunch.

My entry was UReKA = University Record Keeping Application... And guess what? I won the competition! So not only did I gain the respect of the entire luncheon party in one fell swoop but I gained a large box of Maltesers! (I must add they were beautifully wrapped too!)

To see photos of my hat - look here

I've been working really hard on our group assignment plus working of course. It has been really flat out but I'm sure we'll do fine (fingers crossed). Our project is implementation plan for a $2 million dollar eCRM, and online training system for an imaginary Software Training, Sales and Support company. All this for a unit - Project Management, Professionalism and Ethics!

Fuel Campference

Though the camp (1-3 October) was a little smaller due to the venue mess up Phil Stevenson still preached up a storm as predicted. It was great fun and I met a few new faces at the final dinner. I got to play at all but the final night rally, which was help at Whitford. The last night was awesome (to use an overused term!) it was great to see the church packed out as hundreds of people worshipped for the whole night.

Kyleigh SMSed me on Wednesday to see if want to go out to the ballet at His Majesty's Theatre on Thursday night. The WA Ballet is currently performing Romeo and Juliet and Kyleigh had tickets to the dress rehearsal the night before it premieres.



Of course I could not refuse an offer like that. So we organised for her to pick me up from work. Now everyone - you will be impressed that is just one hour we managed to drive from UWA to Ky's place, get changed and eat dinner. Then we took one of the students from Ky's house with us to the Maj.



This was my first time inside the beautiful 100 year old building that is His Majesty's Theatre. I can say that it well and truly lived up to my expectations. It is so beautiful! We ended up sitting in the "gods" the upper (second) level front row and centre. It was a great view and I have to say it was so relaxing to be able to sit down and enjoy the talent of the ballet dancers and the WA Symphony Orchestra. I loved it! Thanks for thinking of me Ky :)

Mike B and Loren are engaged. I have now gone to my first ever engagement party. It was great to chance to catch up with some Whitford people and Chris. The house looked so beautiful and I loved the cakes Mike's was decorated had music notes and Loren's scissors and comb (she is a hairdresser by trade). Just a pity I didn't stay around to taste test them!

I had a lovely lunch at Nan and Pop's after playing "Keys 2" for the two morning services, and then headed over to the open house before rehearsal for "Keys 2 " at Sunday Shift. A bit of a busy day for me...

Now, would you believe that two large events have been double booked in a week?

Saturday night's Youth Alive WA rally was at the Perth Exhibition Convention Centre (Dan & Mike filmed). This 6500 seat event was double booked with a finance conference so Youth Alive wasn't allowed to rehearse/make noise until it had finished! As you can imagine this set them back several hours.

The on Sunday... The Journey was supposed to be our Fuel camp at Fairbridge Farm and they managed to double book our 200 bed camp, so now we are having a conference type event at Lake Joondalup Baptist College instead. That is actually a good thing for me, it means I'll be able to go.

Lessons learned - Don't work in hospitality, Melissa and make sure you check your bookings!!

What is better than spending an afternoon shopping with your bestest buddy? Not much in my book :) We managed to get Ky a full outfit and accessories without breaking the budget. It was a great chance to catch up with all her news and a nice break for me. I am managing my uni project in Project Management Professionalism & Ethics this semester.

Fuel @ Central - yes Fuel is back. After Sunday Shift every fortnight at Whitford we have x-box, table tennis, even carpet bowls, Matt insists this is daggy but that never stopped people having fun. Anyone want to challenge Josh and Jordan to a game of scrabble?



I have to admit the girls seem to prefer to sit around and chat while tucking into to some good old-fashioned chocolate thickshakes. Or maybe a cappuccino from Spink's coffee van.

I've been on leave this week which has been good. I have been shopping, tidying, organising, practicing piano and finishing off my Creative Memories album for - except that I am still not 100% (I had three days off sick last week)



Sunday our life group had a English Sunday Roast themed lunch at the Carbins new home in Joondalup. It was a cold day to the roast went down exceptionally well.



Daniel has just got a job at Unisys West as a Analyst Programmer this is a permanent position which involves working at the Department of Justice in Mt Lawley initially. He started on the 30th of June with a full day induction at their West Perth site and a tour of a couple of other sites.



Jess Davey & Ben Dufty have asked me to play piano at the wedding which is all very exciting - so I am practicing away!



I've uploaded the photos of Mander Jones Award and Stephanie. Now you know why I am taking up a bit too much space on the server at ALIA :)

As I haven't written lately I have quite bit to tell you all!



The latest development at Whitties is our short film festival - Reel Life Film Festival. Michael is working on at least one entry - I can't wait to see it!



Our Life group has taken to having bring and share themed dinner at the end of the month, the first being Italian (complete with authentic home made biscottis and tira misu, oh, did I mention I was a dessert girl?) at our house and the second a beautiful spread of Mexican. With the good cooks in our group (not to mention a home economics teacher) it looks like a great trend!



Creative ministries rehearsals are still a highlight of my week, I am play "keys 2" or the backing keyboard part at Whitford.



I finally received my Mander Jones certificate & got dressed up for the photos. You can see the results online soon - well soonish! I'll blog when I put up the photos.



I had the best weekend on the 24th and 25th of April. For starters my friend Kyleigh & I went out for lunch at Room 19 and then shopping at Koorong. Ky bought some books while I enjoyed browsing. Ky reads a lot more than me - well I just read journals etc and proofread stories by Mike & Lauren. Ok, I do read other books but as I've still not read Return of the King by Tolkien, I've got a way to go to catch her!



Any how Room 19 was better than I expected and not too crowded. Ky and I were impressed by the all WA produce, it was delicious! The bread was very fresh & tasty; I had the beef fillet, cooked just to my liking. Of course we tried their chocolate fondue (Margaret River Chocolate Factory Chocolate) was served with Turkish delights, honeycombs and strawberries with a lit candle underneath the fondue to keep it warm. Amanda personally served our fondue - and she is just a likeable as she seemed on television.



We were blessed by having Brooke Fraser play at our Church on Anzac day Sunday was wonderful too performed and led a few songs. She was in Perth supporting John Mayer. She has a gorgeous voice and is a skilled guitarist as well. Then we went to Nan & Pops for a family lunch… then back to Sunday Shift - I played "keyboard 2" with Mike B on "keyboard 1"



Mother's day was lovely, dad and I were rostered on playing in the AM service, so Mum didn't get a sleep in but we did manage a few gifts - the highlight being a new mobile phone, which she has mastered wonderfully well.



The 15th of May was the second ever HerNights - Mum, Lauren, Kyleigh and I enjoyed chocolate fondue, served by our lovely waiters - yes that mean you Josh, a little of Lauren Carroll's life story among an array of other interesting and fun features.



I've got nearly two months before head into another semester of Uni, this time Project Management, Professionalism & Ethics. This is a subject with no exam (hooray) but it does include a large group project (prayer appreciated on this one!). I've now got 3 units to do - after this one the last two should be easy!

My 22nd Birthday

For all of you who are asking here is the full run down of my birthday:



I had the Golden Key International Honour Society Honorary members breakfast with the ECU Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor and other honorary members plus the committee at Observation City. This year we had it in the stunning Ocean View Room a beautiful venue. It was a great event as usual thanks to Kim Beckett's organisational skills. Our Administration Advisor spoke on marketing and it was really interesting, he had a few case studies about businesses in Perth over the last few years. I also got to see some of my friends wedding photos!



Mum and I then headed to Koorong and managed to get a parking spot right at the front door. As Perth people know this is quite an accomplishment. We then headed to Harbour Town for a bit of shopping. I got a lovely pinstriped jacket for work, some new sunnies, gloves and a couple of shirts.



In the afternoon I cooked a cake to take to work. I was also present with two handmade cards from Lauren and Caitlin.



I had a great day on Thursday too - but ended it by slamming my head in the door of the car. OK, what actually happened was that the car door closed while I as getting in (I still have a sore head 24hrs & three Panadols later!). Never mind!

Good Friday

We had a great day today, we managed to remove the sliding door to the laundry and put in our new washing machine - it is so quiet!



Nan and Pop came over for lunch which is also fun. Showing them the new things we have got in the last few months just reminds me how blessed we are! Of course lunch was delicious we had hot cross buns (plain and chocolate), Easter eggs and cake for dessert. We topped it off with a walk to the Helena River. At the moment there is one puddle - never mind, winter is on its way.

Another great weekend! Saturday night I went out with Amberley to the inaugural HerNight at Whitford.



Sunday morning we had the One for All big band playing, then Lauren's friends over for lunch (part of her late 13th birthday celebrations!). Mike and I then went to see the Passion of the Christ.

What a beautiful day we had on Sunday the 22nd of February.



We spent the whole day with Sarah and Miriam (our cousins) and Miriam's friend Naomi. They are currently over here from Wagga Wagga, NSW. It was a great day - we spent the whole afternoon catching up and talking about everything from career prospects to music to state of higher education!

During the past few days the Golden Key International Honour Society - Asia Pacific Conference has been held at the Sheraton in Perth. My small part was 4 hours - setting up the Chapter Cafe Display, about the dual award winning newsletter (what else?) and included breakfast plus a discussion forum on the Constitution & Chapter Standards (which honestly was very interesting). It was great to be there even for a short time, I met so many interesting, inspiring people.



I've put some photos online now. Look out for the report in our next newsletter! Thanks to Ainsley :)

Exciting news here, though somewhat more trivial than my last post:



A. My brother is a genius (we already knew that!)

B. My new computer is working

C. The two are not connected



To expand on B. I bought a new computer from Discount. It is quite nice: 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 120Gb HDD, 17" LCD monitor. It was going really well until I booted it up on the second day, after leaving the Adobe Acrobat Professional 6.0 installation CD in the drive. The computer would not boot from the hard disk and after a lot of testing here we figured that the Master Boot Record was corrupted (we could access the drive as slave but couldn't boot from it). So, I now have a new HDD in the new computer.



The only side effect? (Apart from 1 week without my nice black & silver computer.) I had to activate Windows XP Professional over the phone!



So that is my little story, hope it didn't bore all my non-techie friends. I'll have a nice human type blog in the coming days, I'm sure.

I has such an inspiring time at PlanetShakers. I went to the night sessions from the 7th - 10th of January. This year, for the first time, it was held in Perth (usually PS only runs in Adelaide). On the last night we had 5 000 people jammed into Challenge Stadium, they even had to open up seats behind the stage. You can see some photos here.



More than the music of the legendary PS band, the excellent speakers (Russell Evans, Reggie Dabbs, Jurgen Matthesius and Glen Berteau and more I didn't get a chance to hear), I loved the feeling of being among so many people who are totally devoted to the One they serve.

Ok I apologise profusely for the fact that this has not been updated for such a long time - what have I been doing?



Well, apart from working full time and studying 1 subject part time - I had 2 21st Birthday parties, 3 work Christmas parties, Christmas, Boxing Day, plenty of shopping and visiting with friends New Year's Eve party, plus I have also been able to play keyboard at Church (Whitford).



The latest news? Kyleigh is back in the country!



I will write again soon! (Hopefully)



Melissa