The End

Well here we are... a whole year and 213 blogs later, and I can't really believe it to be honest.  I had these grand plans to have this beautiful reflective piece for my final blog on 22adventures, something that looked over everything and talked about how far I had come and what happens next.  But the truth is, I don't really know if I can write that at the moment, because I am sitting on the floor at a Big Band rehearsal, feeling very tired and sick.  My nose is running and my head is stuffy and I am just not sure what will come out as I continue to type.  However, the fact is, today is the 8th of April 2010, which means tomorrow I turn 23 and the adventures of me as a 22 year old come to an end.  So whether I feel like it or not, I need to write something to tie it all together.

I find it really hard to believe that exactly a year ago I had an interview in Castlemaine, and getting a job, moving out of home, moving to the country was just a little idea that I wasn't really considering because I didn't want to jinks the job.  Yet here I am writing this blog, a year later and everything, and nothing at all has changed (if that makes any sense).  

There are lots of things that are still the same.  I am still Emma, I still love Disney, blogging, eating and Dave, but now I live in Castlemaine and visit Melbourne.  Now I have a 'real' full time job, not a part time fun thing.  Now I can cook and clean and do general adult things, because I have to and no one else will do it for me (unless they are feeling particularly generous).  Now I have lots of new friends, people who I hadn't even met a year ago today.   

I feel like I have grown a lot since I moved to Castlemaine, and I am not really sure how much of this is just me getting older and how much of this has been because of the fact that I had too.  There have been some really low times, like homesickness, being lonely and getting used to being away from all my friends and family, but there has also been a lot of fun stuff to, and some really really great stuff... my new friends, the things I have seen and the places I have been...oh that rhymed, nice.  I have no idea how to actually sum up this last year other than the fact that I am different and I like it.  I know that I haven't done this by myself and that I my life really has been in God's hands through it all. But I guess when it comes down to it... I am really glad I went to the interview, I am really glad I was offered the job and I had enough courage (and support) to move and give it a crack.  I am also really glad that I have been able to share this with all of you (even if its just Mum, Dad and Dave at times).  Thanks a bunch for reading... my blog would be no fun if no one read it, so thanks for dropping by!  

So what happens next... well I am glad that you asked.  For now, I stay in Castlemaine, and because I can't give up I will continue to blog.  But as I am no longer 22 my blogs will have a new home: www.emjlewis.blogspot.com, so please keep dropping by and checking it out.  But after that I am not really sure and that's ok.  I still have plenty of adventures left in me and I am kind of excited about what is still to come... I guess I will just have to keep to posted, because I guess that's just all part of the adventure!

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The end is nigh

I am starting to get a little panicked... I have almost been doing this blog for a year, which means its also my birthday again, which means that on top of all my regular birthday stress (yes, I have birthday stress) I have to work out what to do next with my blogging.

I have really enjoyed being back in the blogging chair, and I am almost 100% sure I want to keep going, but the beauty of this 22adventures blog is that it had a time limit. It was a year long adventure, but that was it. It was never going to die a slow and painfully boring death like my last blog. The thing is I don’t really want to just sign up for another year, coz I am sick of having so many blogs linked with my name and I want it to be new and exciting, but I don’t really want to change the old ones if that makes sense, and I want to be able to just have the one place!

The other thing is, a new blog poses a lot of questions… what will I call it? what will be the point of it? Will people follow it on? Will it be more or less popular? What will my catch phrase be? These are all very tricky questions, ones which I am fast running out of time to answer!

So I think over the next week and a bit I will have to start seriously thinking about these things…perhaps even brain storming a little. But I think the blogging will continue…someway, somehow!  

I guess that's just all part of the adventure!

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The Waiter

Tonight I made a discovery! A waiter can make or break a meal! Seriously its true… think about it. Tonight I had the pleasure of helping Brad celebrate his birthday by having dinner in the city. The meal was great, the company was great and the waiter was great. In fact the waiter was so good I think he made my night! But before I go much further, I think we need to go back to the basics…

There are 3 types of waiters/waitresses in the world:
1. Bad ones
2. Good ones and
3. Great ones

That’s it, there aren’t any in between ones or ones that fit into any other category, its just these 3. Everyone knows what a bad waiter is… they are the ones that forget what you order and don’t seem to care. The don’t go out of their way to assist, they leave you unattended at all the wrong times and they are just bad. Sometimes they are nice, sometimes they are not…but regardless, they are bad!

The good ones are generally the ones that go unnoticed. They are not fantastic, but they are not bad, they get the job done and at the end of the night you leave with out giving them too much more thought.

And then there is the great ones, the ones that are super helpful, without being in your face, they say all the right things, don’t forget anything and at the end of the night you want to leave them a tip. Sometimes its helps if they have a cool accent or are particularly good looking, but I think that one of the best things about the great ones is they take in the ‘vibe’ of the dinner and behave accordingly.

Tonight we had a great waiter! It did help that he was French and had a very sweet story about moving here to be with his girl friend, but even without that stuff, he was happy to have a laugh with us, to have a good time, but still do what he needed to do. I don’t really know how to describe it…he had a go at kitty for taking to long, which was very funny and super accurate, he made us sing happy birthday and found a biscuit he could put a candle in because we weren’t having dessert, he cracked some jokes, made us all smile and he even took a photo of out table all together!  He was just great and at the end of the night, all of us wanted to show him how much we appreciated him and his service. Anyway, I guess I just wanted to say kudos to that guy…thanks for making it a fun evening…

I guess that's just all part of the adventure!

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Mum

March and April and for that matter the beginning of May are a busy birthday time for me, so normally I try to avoid do special birthday blogs, but today is a special birthday. Today is my Mum’s birthday. So I just wanted to post a quick little special blog to say…

Happy Birthday Mum, I think that you are amazing! Thanks for putting up with me, helping me, comforting me, feeding me, looking after me, laughing with me and crying with me, and the rest! I don’t know what I would do with out you. I will love you forever and always.

I guess that's just all part of the adventure!

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Explaining Yesterday

You may have noticed that yesterday’s blog had no words… except for my little tagline that is, and I am thinking that I probably owe you a little explanation, because it is kind of rude to just do something like that without warning.

So here it is: yesterday was Wordless Wednesday, something new that I am trying. Its not something I have come up with, in fact its an idea that I stole from a other peoples blogs, but I don’t think they will mind, and I think that its kind of cool. In fact my cousin Bec, does something similar too, except she uses some words and calls it Snapshot Sunday, but basically the idea is that the blog on Wordless Wednesday tells you a story about my day or just something random without using words, after all, the do say that a picture is worth a thousand words. So take yesterday for example, my pictures are of Kat’s 24th Birthday Dinner where Miriam was missing in action for a significant proportion. There is her empty chair, everyone looking sad, (except Ben, and I am not sure why) and then everyone happy when we easily replaced her with a picture drawn on the Abercrombie bag.

So there you go… Wordless Wednesday... Oh and today is Kitty's actual birthday...so HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAT!  Hope you have had a ripper day. 

I guess that's just all part of the adventure!

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Wordless Wednesday

I guess that's just all part of the adventure!

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Pizza Hut

Tonight I was able to go back in time...not for long, but for long enough. Tonight I went to Pizza Hut....now before you get on your high horse about the fact that there are Pizza Huts everywhere, this wasn't the take away Pizza Hut that you get in Melbourne...no this was an eat in Pizza Hut, you know the ones…the ones from the good old days where you have a salad bar full of Pizza, chips, pasta and then a separate one with soft serve ice cream and everything you could possibly want as a topping.


I was so nice to go back there and reminisce, it really had been a long time and it was everything I remembered…although being a little older now I realized that they only put the ‘good’ pizza’s out like margaretta, Hawaiian and supreme…none of those ‘bad’ ones which I have become much more accustomed to like BBQ chicken or meat lovers.


But I tell you what nothing beat the salad bar desserts…seriously those things are heaven, and it was probably a very good thing that I was there for a 6 year olds birthday party and that the other kids were restricted to only one dessert, because if I had have had free reign, I might still be there eating dessert…seriously




I guess that's just all part of the adventure!

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Happy Birthday Jess

Just a quick post to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESS

I think you are a gem and I am so glad that you are part of our family!

See told you it would be quick.

I guess that's just all part of the adventure!

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