Three

Last week marked 11 years together and 3 years married and each year since our wedding BJ makes a compilation CD and we take our anniversary photo. It's my favourite time of year. And this year it was SO nice to be able to share it all with Audrey.

Our anniversary album never disappoints. BJ will collect songs over the year. Some old but mostly new songs. He will often hide an entire album if there is a song on it that he's wanting to save as a surprise.

This tradition started after we did a CD as the wedding favour for our guests. It was so much fun to make and was just so us. So I thought I'd share the playlists and albums covers.

The Wedding Album

This album is a mix of some of our favourite songs and also songs we including in our special day. 

Faithful Heights - Night Beds

Your Arms Around Me - Jens Lekman

Love Song - Tilly & The Wall

First Day Of My Life - Bright Eyes

Love Interruption - Jack White

Stay Forever - Ween

These Old Shoes - Deer Tick

That's What's Up - Edward Sharp & The Magnetic Zero

In The Aeroplane Over The Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel

Think I'm In Love - Beck

No Children - The Mountain Goats

My Love - Mariachi El Bronx

As strange as this might sounds, this is our song. I love it!

(I was so sad when we saw The Mountain Goats live and they didn't play it.)

One

This album had a few of the same artists from our wedding album but seriously, how can you go wrong putting The Mountain Goats on a compilation CD? 

Shepherd's Bush Lullaby - Benjamin Gibbard

Flightless Bird, American Mouth - Iron & Wine

The Way Love Used To Be - Colin Meloy

Feb-75 - The Mountain Goats

Hannah Hunt - Vampire Weekend

The Hardest Part - Ryan Adams & The Cardinals

Nausea - Beck

Awkward Conversation - The Front Bottoms

Oh Yeah - Foxygen

Black Cadillacs - Modest Mouse

Palaces Of Montezuma - Grinderman

Seeing this song performed live is one of the most mesmerizing and amazing things I've ever experienced.

Two

I got this album one month before Audrey was born and it was the perfect album to get me through those last few weeks.

Just A Dream - Tobias Jesso Jr.
This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) - Iron & Wine And Ben Bridwell
Beginners - The Tallest Man On Earth
Wastes Of Time - Elvis Depressedly
Slow Show - The National
If I Love You - The Brian Jonestown Massacre
West Virginia - The Front Bottoms
Depreston - Courtney Barnett
Against Pollution - The Mountain Goats
A Girl In Port - Okkervil River
I Went To The Store One Day - Father John Misty

I seriously burst in tears as soon as the album started because of this beautiful song.
(And can you tell we have a serious love for The Mountain Goats)




Three
I've already listened to this album a few times and like the rest, I love it. This one tells the story of our first year with Audrey starting off with the song that was playing when she was born... Yes, my kid came out to mariachi music... She's my little Mexican baby.

Arpeggiator - Mariachi El Bronx
Welcome To Earth (Pollywog) Sturgill Simpson
C'est La Vie Way - Wolf Parade
Are You Serious - Andrew Bird
Two Kids - Laura Gibson
Dust Bunnies - Kurt Vile
Belong To You - Eric Bachmann
Brother's Song - Brand New
River - Leon Bridges
Being Around - Courtney Barnett

What the hell?! No Mountain Goats... C'mon BJ!
This is the song that I would sing to Audrey when I was trying to get her down in her cot. His album was often playing in the car so she would snooze... And because it's amazing!



Already excited about what next years album will be like

xx
Smorgy

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2013 Wrap Up

Wow! What a year!

2013 is coming to an end and I have to say it's been my most favourite year yet.

I was lucky enough to marry the love of my life and go adventuring around the USA for a glorious month.

I was able to see friends that I have been apart from for far too long and celebrate over and over again with everyone I love.

BJ and I had the wedding we truly wanted. We wanted to have a fun day with family and friends but didn't want to spend a lot of money as we wanted to honeymoon in America and continue a month's long celebration. We made a lot of the decorations and call in favours where ever we could. It was such a relaxing, joyful day and i would not change a thing.

The honeymoon was amazing! 

It had been years since we saw some of our friends overseas and we did not want to waste a second while we were over there. We kept ourselves very busy and had lots of adventures. (We finally saw Niagara Falls.... Wow!!)

We were both very much overworked this year. Saving every cent we could for our wedding/honeymoon. As well as working hard to save up our holiday hours. But it was worth it to have the honeymoon we both dreamed of.

This year we have also brought a new family car and finally got rid of BJ's egg mobile.

Tonight BJ, Cooper and I are going to hang out together with some homemade burgers (which I can hear BJ making right now) and celebrate the wonderful year we are saying goodbye to. We will bring in 2014 together. A NEW year which I plan to be just a good... If not better.

xx
Smorgy

PS: 2014 will include more blogging, more Fork This, as well as a lot of goals I am setting for myself and will work hard to achieve. I plan to have another VERY productive year.

PPS: Thank you to everyone who helped make this year soo amazing. Happy 2014 Everyone!


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Fork This 78 - Tiny Trains

Today BJ and I took a trip to Box Hill Miniature Trains for a nice ride in this beautiful weather.

xx

Smorgy

PS: BJ and I got engaged on Friday night... Very happy and excited.

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Fork This 70 - How I Spend My Sundays by Dale Cooper

Cooper took control of the episode this week and shows us what he's Sundays are all about.

This is probably the best episode we've done

xx

Smorgy

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Christopher Nolan's Batman Trilogy *No Spoilers*

BJ and I are both really excited about the final Batman this Thursday. BJ LOVES this trilogy and has been talking about it non-stop for 12 months, waiting it to be out... If you've spoken to him, im sure he's mentioned Batman... A LOT! I too love this trilogy but am excited for another reason. This Batman trilogy is the first new trilogy BJ and I have experienced together from start to finish and I am excited and sad for it to come to an end.

Batman Begins was the FIRST movie we ever saw together. We went to Reading Cinemas in Chirnside Park and it was before we were even dating and only the second time we'd hung out together. Batman Begins was the start of what was to become a very large (and expensive) addiction between BJ and I. We love going to the cinemas and if we could we'd go every week.

Dark Knight was viewed at a cinema in Seattle, WA. It was released just before our 3rd anniversary (Which we celebrated at Disneyland) and we were left with a whopper of a story from our adventure to the cinemas. The day had us walking 5 miles to a cinema only to find they weren't playing Dark Knight, then another mile to the next cinema, walking down the side of a busy road which wasn't pedestrian friendly, only to come out of the movie late at night, stranded, with no taxi's around and the fear of not knowing how we'd get back to our motel.

In the end we got a lift from a very friendly fella who played talk back church radio the whole drive back to the motel and wouldn't accept any money from us. Good times!

And now here we are at The Dark Knight Rises which came out right before our anniversary once again. It will be our 7th anniversary... Oh my, how time flies. We have followed this Trilogy for our whole relationship and we were so excited for the final instalment of what has been a great trilogy.

BJ and I walked out of the cinemas opening night, gave each other a big hug and just smiled.

It's the end of an era.... But I look forward to many more trilogies in our future.

xx
Smorgy

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Fuck Valentines Day

I don't understand why anyone who is in a loving relationship cares about Valentines Day.
You should be feeling the love every day and shouldn't need a specific day just to show how much someone means to you. Each day that ends in Y should remind you of the love you have for each other.

In the 6 1/2 years BJ and I have been together we've not once celebrated Valentines Day... To us, it's just another day. Last night, however, BJ decided to surprise me by making me cookies with little pink hearts on them. It was super sweet of him. It was special because I wasn't expecting it.

But today is just another day... I don't want or expect flowers, chocolates or any sort of valentine surprise. I want to go home and make Taco's for dinner, do the dishes together and then cuddle up on the couch and watch House Of Lies.

Conversation between BJ and I today via text message which amused me:
Me: Someone at work just had a massive thing of flowers delivered.
BJ: Oh yeah? That's nice.
Me: Yeah.. She was pretty excited about it.
BJ: I'm not sending you flowers... Just so you know.
Me: I didn't think you would.

I am soo happy right now. I have the man, I have the house, I have the best puppy in the world.
Nothing can bring me down for this cloud I'm not right now.

I Love This Guy

My world is finally as it should be. I am the happiest I've been in a long time and I mostly have myself to thank for that. I know that sounds silly but if it wasn't for my drive to safe well and budget, I wouldn't be where i am today.

Plus once I started to realise all the things that were continuing to bring me down and make me feel like shit. I was able to remove all that negativity from my life. I'm working hard to focus on all the positive things.

I am in love with my best friend BJ and thinking about that always brings a smile to my face. We've now lived in our house together for a whole month and it's been the greatest month of my life. I've gotten to wake up every morning next to him. I enjoy coming home and cooking our dinner before he gets home from work and I love when all three of us cuddle up on the couch and watch TV at night.

I Love This Guy Too

Next week is our Housewarming and I'm looking forward to having all our friends over to warm up Tom Selleck (Our house) and celebrate this new chapter in our lives. I plan to keep only moving forward from here on. I'm not going back... Ever!

2011 was a roller coaster of a year but 2012 is coming up Milhouse!

xx
Smorgy

P.S: I successfully made my first homemade ice cream cake. Ice cream made from scratch and everything. I'm soo happy that i achieved this without too much stress (BJ might say otherwise) and cannot wait to attempt more masterpieces.

 (Fork This episode coming soon)  

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70 “New-To-Me” Movies 2011

Last year i set myself a realistic goal of 50 'New-To-Me' movies. This year i increased my number to 70 and i made it.

Here is my list of movies I watched in 2011 and my ratings. Looking at the list there are only a couple of ratings that i now regret and would change but have left at my original rating.

January:

Greenberg – 1.5/5

Black Swan – 5/5

February:

127 Hours – 4/5

March:

Just Buried – 1.5/5

Because I said so – 2/5

The Last Kiss – 2/5

Hairspray (1988) – 2.5/5

Youth and Revolt – 2.5/5

Waiting for Guffman – 3.5/5

No Reservations – 3/5

Dinner for Schmucks – 2/5

Cyrus – 3/5

The Runaways – 2/5

Get Him To The Greek – 4/5

April:

How to eat fried worms – 3/5

Hot Rod – 2/5

Thor – 3.5/5 – By the hammer of THOOORRRR!!!!

May:

Paperman – 4/5

Blood into Wine – 4/5

The Hangover 2 – 4/5

June:

The Green Hornet – 3/5

Drive Angry – 3/5

American: The Bill Hicks Story – 4/5

Year One – 1/5

Super 8 – 4/5

DIG! – 3/5

Stranger than fiction – 3/5

Couple’s Retreat – 2.5/5

We own the night – 2/5

Rango – 3/5

July:

District 9 – 3.5/5

You Again – 3/5

Mama Mia – 2/5

Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows Pt 2 – 4/5

Bride Wars – 2/5

Jesus Camp – 3/5

Suckerpunch – 2/5

Bridesmaids – 4/5

Accepted – 3/5

Despicable me – 2.5/5

August:

Sunshine – 3/5

Captain America – 4/5

The Losers – 3/5

Raising Arizona 4/5

Hesher – 4/5

The music never stopped – 4/5

Man with the screaming brain – 2/5

Sourcecode – 2/5

Bad Teacher – 2/5

The Best and the Brightest – 3/5

September:

Everything Must Go – 3/5

The Beaver – 3/5

Burlesque – 2/5

Horrible Bosses – 3/5

Intolerable Cruelty – 3/5

October:

Red State – 4.5/5

November:

Let’s go to Prison – 2/5

Marley and Me – 2/5

Exit through the gift shop – 4.5/5

Tucker and Dale vs Evil – 2.5/5

Welcome to the Dollhouse – 1/5

The Benchwarmers – 3/5

December:

50/50 – 4.5/5

The Help – 4.5/5

The Myth of the American Sleepover – 3/5

The Invention of Lying – 3/5

Contagion – 3.5/5

Our idiot brother – 3/5

Cherrybomb – 1/5

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – 4/5

Project Nim – 5/5

7 Up – 3/5

7 Plus 7 – 3/5

Submarine – 5/5

Total: 74

Good Effort if i do say so myself. Next year I will probably increase it more. With BJ and I moving in together we will have a lot more time to watch movies (AND TV shows).

I should really do a blog like this for TV shows but it's a hard one because there are soo many series we started this year as well as one's we've continued from past years. There is soo much GREAT TV out there at the moment so i might just mention some of my favourites currently.

Great Shows:

Breaking Bad - fantastic show. I wasn't the happiest person with regards to the ending of season 4 but i fucken love that show. Boardwalk Empire - Just amazing. Everything about it is perfect. The acting the sets the costumes. Louie - HILARIOUS!!! Don't need to say anything else. For Animation I'm in love with Bob's Burgers and Archer. I still love How I Met Your Mother. My new favourite sitcom is New Girl. Perfect in every way. Game Of Thrones - Mother fucken Game of THRONES!!!! The Killing is the most depressing show i've watched and actually had to stop for a while because i couldn't handle it but it's such an amazing edge-of-your-seat show. The Walking Dead always gets your heart racing and the season of nothing happening was worth sitting through for the last 10 minutes of the season final. Mike and Molly, Raising Hope and Melissa and Joey are all worth watching, feel good shows. The nerd in me feels enough people don't know about Eureka and should.

Not So Great Shows:

I'm proud to say i've finally quit True Blood. Talk about a shit show. It made me soo angry but i'm not one to finish mid season so i toughed it out. Also, I'm pretty disappointed with how this years season of Dexter went. It turned really soapie and lame. I still can't tell if Colin Hanks was acting really well or REALLY BADLY. Season ending was a twist which HOPEFULLY will improve next season. Entourage's ending was what BJ described as and i quote 'A pile of shit'. Glee has been stinkin' pretty bad since the end of season 1. This season of Chuck has been a bit lagging which makes me sad.

So there is a little insight to SOME of the TV I've watched this year. (I watch a fuckload of TV). 

BJ are I are trying to decide weather to watch a TV show or movies to bring us into 2012.  So i may have to add to this later on.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy new year.
2012 is going to be the best!!

xx

Smorgy

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Cleaning out my closet

Wow! Christmas is almost hear which means New Years is just around the corner and then... We get OUR HOUSE!

It's all coming around super fast and with how this year has gone for me I'm planning to do everything i can to make sure 2012 starts off great and continues to be a fantastic year without any worries.

So between Christmas and New Years, while i have some time off I'm going to be Eminem'ing it and Cleaning out the closet that is my life.

 I DO actually need to clean out my physical closet to because it's sooo full of crap and i need to sort through it all and pack for the move. But I'll also be cleaning out anything else i can think of.

My Facebook is going to get another cull/clean up. Get rid of all those people that were accepted as friends but have not once spoken to since that day and have no desire to speak to them in the future.
The people from my past... from school... who i haven't seen since then and maybe once in a blue moon they'll send me a message or invite me to a group event (which is usually just to tell people that they've got a new phone number).

I'm getting rid of them all. Why be a 'Facebook friend' with someone you aren't actually friends with?!
Would you invite them out for your birthday? Have you planned to hang out with them in any way since accepting them as a friend? Would you invite them to your housewarming?... No.... Then why are they 'friends'?

I'm getting rid of all the negative. All the stuff that gets in my way, and brings me down. All the stuff that makes me feel unhappy or worthless.

I'm getting rid of old clothes that i put aside because 'one day they might fit me again' or 'even though i split something on that top and it stained it was still super cute and i just cant throw it away'.

2012 is a HUGE year for me. Moving out of home, Taking on a mortgage, Being responsible for soo much more. I need to go into 2012 feeling positive and in control.

If you can see past all that hair... That's BJ... The man i love. The man I've bought a house with and have every intention to spend the rest of my life with. I'm doing this all for us. So that we can both have the best 2012.

Some of you may know... I'm one of those people that needs to have a plan. Needs to know what's going on. I have lists for everything. If something goes wrong with my plan, i can become that crazy person crying in the corner. Moving is going to stress me like nothing else. And I'm trying to a stress-less 2012.

Now don't get me wrong... 2011 was a good year. BJ and I went on a family cruise which was awesome fun, we've gone to see some great concerts and gigs, We bought our house and started buying furniture and other items we need for it. But there are been a lot of shit that came with this year too.

There was a pretty shitty few months early on. Which sent me into a seriously depressed state... Then there was that long road of hard work and medication to get me to where i am today.
Just thinking about that period of time gets me quiet emotional and teary because i fear becoming that person again. But I'm not going to let that happen.

So bring on 2012... Bring on the house and the bills and the cooking and cleaning up after ourselves. Bring on the freedom of living in my own house, being able to paint the walls and hang up posters and play music as loud as i want.

Bring on positive thinking and relaxing more and not getting upset if something doesn't go exactly to plan. Bring on spending everyday with BJ and Cooper, Cooking together every night, Shopping for food, recording Fork This (without interruptions), Having people over to hang out, cuddling up on the couch to watch a movie. Bring on having my own crafting space, being able to leave projects out to work on as i please.

2012 is my year... The year of Smorgy! My year of happiness and joy.
And I'm NOT going to let anything change that.

Let the countdown begin

xx
Smorgy Pin It

Fork This - Episode 10

Can't believe we have been successful at getting an episode out every Sunday for 10 weeks... Go us!!!


In this episode BJ and I celebrate 6 years of our lives together with an adventure of sorts and we took the camera along to get some footage for you all.

Check it out:


Fork This - 010 from BJ Carter on Vimeo.


xx
Smorgy Pin It

Fork This - Episode 7

In this episode BJ and I get matching tattoos on our fingers.


Fork This - 007 from BJ Carter on Vimeo. Pin It

Tattoo Sunday

BJ and I decided we wanted to get matching tattoos. Of something that makes sense only to us.
Something personal and special.

And this weekend we went and got our matching tattoos..... On our fingers!!

We got a lot of people voicing there opinions about us getting finger tattoos but to us none of them made any difference when it came to us making this decision.

For me personally I wasn't going to get something huge, in-your-face or stupid. I was going to get something special. Something that no matter what, at any time of day i can look down and see... Something that will always put a smile on my face.

So we go the Pi symbol.

BJ got his in Black (as well as a lightening bolt on his other hand) and I got mine in Pink.

Keep your pies away from us as these are our Pi dipping fingers!

xx
Smorgy

P.S: There may be a Fork This epsiode about this coming soon :) Pin It

Fork This - Episode 5

In this weeks episode of Fork This i decide to try and explain what Fork This is.


Fork This - 005 from BJ Carter on Vimeo.



Enjoy
xx
Smorgy Pin It

I'm a Pro

Today is my full day of using my new Macbook Pro and all i can say is - I LOVE IT!!!

His name is Kenny Powers and he is soo beautiful.

Dont get me wrong, i loved Samson (my first macbook) but i got to a point that he just wasnt fast enough or up to what i needed. So i had to upgrade. But im not complaining.

I found out just after deciding to upgrade that if i did it before the end of december, i can claim 50% back on tax because it's a business purchase.... Yeeee!!!

One thing i have learnt since getting my pro is - don't try to wirelessly transfer over 100gb worth of data... It takes a REALLY long time.

Im soo excited to get back to working on my website and hopefully have it back online soon.

Yay for Pro's

xx

Smorgy

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