It Makes me Happy...

...Ballroom Dancing!!!

Dance class: Tango!

One thing that I absolutely love to do is ballroom dancing.

Some of you call it Boring Dancing, or roll your eyes when you hear anything to do with the topic... But I am standing strong, and no matter what you think of ballroom dancing, I am posting a few pictures to show you the fun that it is to me =D

Jo and Ryan at the Black Tie Dance

My brother and I started dancing 2-3 school terms ago (June - July 2011). We began going on Sunday afternoons with the G-family, and it was such fun!!!! I originally danced with Joe, and Ryan and Lisa danced together, while our parents were partners on the dance floor.

Brothers and sisters :-)
Lisa, Jo, Ryan and I

Over time, my parents became less frequent, Mr and Mrs G moved up to the Intermediate class, and Joe and Lisa stopped coming.

Gorgeous Lisa and I

So that left Ryan and I!
We spent two [school] terms in the beginner's class. By the end of that time, we were kind of "over" reviewing steps that we already knew - although once or twice, we had a private lesson because no one else showed up - that was kinda cool =P And we did get better at the steps over that time.

Concentrating on learning a new step

From the start of this year, however, we moved up to the intermediate class!! VERY exciting =D We learned about three new steps each week, that were definitely harder than what we already knew!
Ryan has been a truly wonderful dance partner ;-) (he's going to love me for writing this, I just know it) I've been totally surprised at how well he's done! He remembers more than me! We come to dance, for instance, the Cha Cha, when we haven't even thought about that dance for 8 weeks. I'm there thinking, "Right, Cha Cha, now, I know the first step... but the rest??... HELP!" And my awesome little brother just cruises in, starts out (in double-time, no less?) leading me with all the confidence you could imagine!!

Totally not posed ;-)

Love you heaps, bro! Thanks for coming dancing with me, even when you didn't feel like it. Thanks for enjoying it (cos I know you did, at times at LEAST!! =P ) with me. Thanks for trying so hard. Thanks for apologizing every second time you stepped on my toes.
Just thanks :-)
I love sharing this with you!!! I'm gona have these memories with me forever. They're a treasure.
~Rachel

One Year Later

Hi!! :)

So... I have had a blog for just over 1 year. It actually feels like I've had a blog for a lot longer than that! I don't know why, since I haven't been blogging much lately :S My apologies for that! There has been a lot going on; a lot to think about--and to be honest, blogging hasn't really entered my mind!


A lot has happened this year, so far. Want to know some of them??

2010 SO FAR

• New Year's Eve celebration at my church with church friends and family--it was an awesome night of fun, with very dear people!!!
• My best friend started a courtship... More later :)
• Kim's cousin Kaylin visited over the summer holidays, from South Africa :D It was great getting to know even just one person from her extended family
• Met Alicia and started planning for Girls of Grace (more on that later as well)
• As an aside... At the end of 2009, I finished working at Flow FM. My traineeship finished in October '09, but I kept working until the end of the year. I wasn't too concerned about not having work--I figured something would come up soon enough! I took January off, and in February started looking for work
• Played in the Gawler Tennis Tournament, and won the doubles trophy for my division :D Woohoooo!
• House-sat with Elyse--watched movies, went for walks, went to the beach...
• Had a beautiful girl, Bec, stay with my family. She is from Switzerland, and a lady from my church organised for us to meet. She is the one person I know that is the most like me in every way! It was crazy how much we were alike!
• Youth Camp in Sydney: DARE 2010. What a great camp! I was a small group leader and a team leader, and LOVED it! I have never been a "leader" at camp before, and I think the timing was perfect. I learned a lot from the other leaders, which was awesome
• Had picnics, BBQ's, and time with family friends (summer holidays are GREAT! And it was awesome not to be working in January and be free to do lots of things with family and friends)
• Waitressed at a wedding with Jewelz, Elyse and Josie
• Started working in the office at Simply Elegant. I have been working on marketing our products, and my boss is very happy with what I've done so far :P
• Have entered a new phase with one of my closest friends... It's so exciting how we have both opened up to each other and are learning more about each other
• Started giving Amy and Jarryd piano lessons (for a few extra $$ ;P)
• You may remember me posting about my dream of starting a girls group. Well, that dream is now reality, and I am so thankful for God's timing and for the last more-than-a-year of waiting and praying!!! Girls of Grace started at the end of February
• Went ballroom dancing for the first time in my life, and I am determined to go again!!!! :D
• Visited Northside Baptist Church
• Had a job interview at Adelaide College of Ministries--aka ACM (not successful)
• Youth Group started back for 2010. We now have a leadership team of 5--Peter, Brad, Alex, Kim and myself. Term 1 went really well, and I'm looking forward to Term 2. As leaders, we are all learning, which can be interesting!
• Started netball training and coached and umpired the younger girls
• Slept over my grandparent's place for the first time in AGES!!! Such a lovely time spent with them :) We went out and ate Indian food... mmmmm!!!
• Had an interview and tests at Hays Recruitment... That was very successful!!! More on that later, as well
• Had a wonderful birthday week, from April 5-10 :P It was so awesome having a whole week of different, interesting things :) On Easter Monday April 5, I had a "family" birthday party; about 60 people would have been there, and it was so lovely! On the 10th, I had another party at home, with about 20 friends, which was also an absolutely beautiful time :) If I can figure out how to post photos on here, I might upload a couple. But they will definitely be on Facebook eventually :P

I know that is a huge list, but all of these things (no matter how small they may seem) are all significant things to me. They all involve things and people that are very dear to me and close to my heart.

I will be blogging more just over the next couple of days, so you will get a little bit more of a glimpse into what is happening in my life right now--and hopefully some more details on a few of the things that have happened this year :)

Many blessings

~Rachel