Ten steps to helping you deal with a break up. October 12, 2008
Posted by Vanessa in Resources.Tags: family, life, marriage, psychology, relationship, romance, society, wedding car, wedding dress, weddings australia
add a comment
Ten steps to helping you deal with a break up.
Shane Warne: Source The Age
Here comes the bride…..there goes the groom! Marriage can be daunting at the best of times, but if you find yourself with a Shane Warne wannabe, then it’s time to bowl him right out of your life. Whilst relationship breakdowns can difficult at the best of times, it’s important to realise that things do happen for a reason and some things are just not meant to be. Sometimes you may need to throw a yorker his way and get him out. So how do you cope after a serious relationship break up? Pick yourself up and try out some of our strategies to dealing with a break up the therapeutic way.
1. Circle of friends- Meet up with the girls and engage in a ritual burning ceremony. Anything that belonged to him goes in the fire, and whilst you’re doing it, why not toast some marshmallows with your friends!
2. Meet and greet – There’s nothing like a night out in town with the girls. Glam yourself up and party with the girls. Being out and about will help you to see that there are always plenty of fish in the sea, and lets face it ladies, some of those fishes can be good enough to eat!
3. Make over – Leaving a serious relationship can be a big change in a your life. Whilst you undergoing one change, why not revamp your ’look’ and have a complete make over. Whilst it may be a quick fix and temporary remedy, it will leaving you feeling gorgeous.
4. Holiday – Take that holiday you always wanted! Organise a group of your girlfriends and go away together. Sometimes leaving the old scenery behind can assist the heart to heal. A happy, warm and social location will help you get out and have fun.
5. Engage in an activity that you have always wanted. Whether it be dancing, or tennis, start something new to commemorate a new beginning for you. It will also help you to meet new people which can be therapeutic as they won’t know anything about your past relationship, thus preventing you from avoiding the dreaded questions about the ex.
6. Relocate – Whilst taking a holiday can provide some new scenery, you may want to think about a complete new start. Often leaving a serious relationship can mean leaving a huge part of your life. Sometimes it’s easier to start a new life without your ex partner in a place where memories don’t exist. Remaining in the same home or even the same suburb can be unhealthy and prolong the healing process.
7. Play catch – Take the time out to catch up with old friends. Sometimes being in a long term relationship can prevent us from spending quality time with our family and friends. Often when we find ourselves alone we seek those who were once close to us. Take the opportunity to call some of your old friends and rekindle those relationships.
8. Reminisce and farewell – Depending on the circumstances of the break up, sometimes it’s nice to remember the good times. Cherish the nice moments, put them away and bid them farewell. Whether good or bad, all relationships provide us with experience one way or another. Learn from your relationship, and take with you the positives. Keeping hold of excess bagage is unhealthy, so make sure that you only pack the essentials before moving into another relationship.
9. Seek professional advice – Sometimes it’s helpful to speak to someone in a professional setting. Counselors can offer objective advice and help you decipher the nuts and bolts without the pre-conceived ideas emerging or the judgements.
10. Time – Remember that it everyone deals with break ups differently. If you feel like you are taking a long time then that’s ok. On the flip side, if you feel that you have dealt with the break remarkable well and have moved on quickly, then that is ok too. We are all different and experience relationship breakdowns differently.
Finalising the end of a relationship can be heartbreaking. Whatever the circumstances, it’s important to engage with close friends and family during this period. Take the time to reflect on who you are, you may find that you learn new things about yourself that you didn’t previously know.
Find your wedding car at Kiss the Bride.
Find your wedding dress at Kiss the Bride.
> 
Costello and Howard get Married September 11, 2008
Posted by Damon Taylor in Politics of Weddings.Tags: australia, australian politics, love, marriage, peter costello, Relationships, society, wedding, wedding dress, weddings
1 comment so far
Peter and John get Married | Image source: The Age
The dynamic duos are back in the news. Even post government, Howard and Costello can still brew up a storm in the media. Peter Costello’s memoirs will be published very soon and I’m sure there will be plenty of closed door politics spilling out for public consumption. Will it be a bruising Latham style book or a book of sweet little anecdotes with Peter complimenting John on the terrific work he was doing? Time will tell.
And what a story it will make. Imagine for a moment they were a married couple? Worse still, imagine that they were a married couple in a bitter public divorce. Paul McCartney might offer some tips on how to handle the media. But, the mind boggles at what the dinner conversations might be between John and Peter or the conversations in the kitchen whilst unpacking the dishwasher. Would their conversations be kind hearted full of affection for one another or would it be the constant power struggle to maintain the household supremacy? Would their cheque account require two signatures and would there be minutes recorded of every meeting around the kitchen table? And who would be the one to discipline the kids? Would John use his booming voice to intimidate then children and would Peter whisper words of comfort to the children that directly undermined John causing stand offs between everyone in the family home?
And how might those conversations be filtered in the context of a divorce? The “he said you said” finger pointing would be at an all time high and it be would a media circus. But how intriguing would it be?
You can even imagine John Howard and Peter Costello and planning their 1996 wedding. The issue of who was going to wear the wedding dress would be enough for an early divorce. John would want the strapless little number and Peter would want the one with the puffy sleeves. Peter would want the small tiara and John would want the biggest crown he could find to cover his hair loss. And the wedding speech would be who could be the centre of attention for the longest. The tension would build during the course of the night where Peter would show off his finance skills by out smarting waitress whilst John would talk about the Australian cricket team and how Shane Warne could bowl you around the legs. The power struggle would be very apparent even before the marriage was consummated. The commonwealth parliamentary car would pick them up after the reception and the tension would spill over in the back seat into a full on argument on how much respect was shown for one another in front of all the guests.
Even the most successful of marriages don’t always seem what they are. Communication is important. In the case of our dynamic duo, Peter communicated his Prime Ministerial intentions to the world. This was fueled by speculation of John’s retirement timetable which never came about. It was a volatile mix of a very public parliamentary marriage where there are several lessons learnt. The key message is don’t spill your marital issues into the public domain. Resolution then becomes infinitely harder. Confide in a close friend as a means to discuss the issue rather than hold it all in until self explosion. Talk it out, resolve it, live and learn form it. In the case of John and Peter, they’re still talking about it. Having never resolved the issue, I certainly hope they had a pre nuptial agreement. A tell all book could get a bit sticky.
Have you found your wedding dress??
Olympic Games – Politically Unified August 27, 2008
Posted by Damon Taylor in Politics of Weddings, Resources.Tags: family, life, love, olympics, politics, religion, romance, society, sport, wedding, wedding dress, Wedding Dresses, weddings
add a comment
Olympic Motto: “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well”.
The Olympic Motto endeavors to promote unity and idealism in a world that is not so idealistic. For many nations, the Olympic Game is simply an event in which the struggles and triumphs are featured. For some countries, winning supersede the idealisms of unity and sportsmanship.
In addition to the motto, symbols are also utilised in an attempt to convey representations illustrating unity and collectivism. The five rings consisting of the colours white, red, blue, green, yellow and black represent a colour used in every nation’s national flag. The rings thus represent the unity of the five inhabited continents and the countries comprised within these continents.
Subsequent symbols such as the torch relay and the nation’s mascot are also used in order to encompass the ‘unified’ approach of the games. Whilst these symbols are widely used within the games, the proposed meanings affiliated with ‘unity’ fail to emerge. Rather than creating unity, the Olympic Games highlight the controversies and political agendas of the very nations that represent the Olympic ideals. Such political agendas can be signified by the 1936 Olympics in Berlin whereby the German Nazi Party employed the games as propaganda to illustrate the supremacy of the Aryan race and the facist political structure. Similarly, the Soviet Union refused to participate in the Olympic Games until 1952 and instead created their own games consisting of athletes who supported the Communist organisations.
In 1968, the so called ‘unity’ of the Olympic Games was highlighted when two American track and field athletes rewarded viewers with the Black Power salute after receiving their medals. In response to the unanimity of the athletes, the International Olympic Committee ordered the athletes home. Nations throughout the world have also embraced the Olympic ideals by successfully boycotting certain Olympic Games. The Melbourne Olympics in 1956 was the first Olympic game to be boycotted by Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland due to the repression of the Hungarian uprising by the Soviet Union. This became a unanimous approach when Cambodia, Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon also boycotted the same game due to the Suez Crisis.
In 1972 and 1976, further boycotts occurred from a number of African countries who had requested that the IOC ban South Africa, Rhodesia and New Zealand. When the IOC failed to concede, the African countries withdrew their athletes from the games, despite the fact that some of the athletes had already competed. Further boycotts occurred in 1980 whereby sixty-five nations refused to participate at the Moscow Olympics due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Only just recently, the 2008 Olympic Games in Bejing encompassed a growing number of threats to boycott the games due to China’s poor human rights record and response to the recent issues in Tibet, Darfur and Taiwan.
Additionally, controversies have also emerged criticizing the International Olympic Committee as being autocratic and corrupt. In 1998, it became widely known that certain IOC members had taken bribes in exchange for votes to elect the upcoming host city. This resulted in four members resigning and six members terminated.
Whilst the Olympic Games have grown to include thousands of competitors participating in hundreds of events, it is becoming increasingly evident that the very ideals upheld by the ‘Olympics’, are failing to be represented by the participating nations. Whilst the Olympic motto provides an idealistic representation of the Olympics, it fails to represent the reality of the games.
Kiss the Bride for all your wedding needs
20 Ways to Propose August 1, 2008
Posted by Damon Taylor in Resources.Tags: bridal, brides, life, love, Relationships, romance, society, wedding, weddings
1 comment so far
- Proposing over a romantic dinner is always a winner. Take your partner to a romantic restaurant. Make sure that you request to be seated in an area with low lighting and where you can have privacy. You want to make sure that she can hear your question.
- Proposing on water always wins the heart. Whether it is on a boat or simply by the water, the setting is always romantic, tranquil and composed.
- Why not get a sky writer to ask that special question. Arrange to have the sky writer fly over the both of you whilst you’re sipping champagne on a picnic rug. This way you will know that the question will be asked despite how you may be feeling.
- Take your partner sky diving and organise for him or her to land on a ‘Marry Me’ sign. My personal favourite.
- If you work with children, you can incorporate them into your proposal by providing them with a letter to hold. When standing together, it will read ‘Marry Me’.
- Take your partner on a hot air balloon flight. Most hot air balloon packages include a gourmet breakfast upon arrival. It will set a romantic scene for you to pop that special question.
- If you don’t like flying, then why not arrange to have the question written on the hot air balloon. Most companies will comply with a sign being placed on the side of the basket for your partner to see.
- Take your partner away for a romantic weekend for two. Ensure that the weekend is filled with fun and laughter. You will have an abundance of ‘perfect’ moments to pick the right time to ask the question without being restricted to a specific time or place.
- Climb a bridge. In Australia you can climb the Story Bridge in Brisbane or the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Ask the question during a dawn or dusk climb. A rising or setting sun creates the perfect setting and background for you to pop the question.
- Hire a yacht and sail away for the day. Unless you’re a qualified skipper, most yacht trips are inclusive of a chef and a skipper, so you and your special someone can spend endless time together.
- If you enjoy being in the public eye, hire a group of professional singers to serenade your partner. Whilst she is being swept of her feet and entertained at the same time, you can drop down on your knee and pop the question.
- Send a group of balloons to your partner with a letter spelling ‘Marry Me’ written on each of the balloon. She will have fun arranging the letters to see what the message is.
- Provide your partner with a delicious desert and place the engagement ring inside. Ensure that she will be able to find it easily as we don’t want the proposal to be followed with a trip to the dentist.
- Feeling frisky and fearless? Why not do a strip dance for your partner and have ‘Marry Me’ sprayed across your chest.
- Send your partner on his or her own personal treasure hunt. Leave a trail of clues which she must follow straight to you. Upon her arrival she will see you waiting down on one knee with a romantic dinner for two set up in the background. This works best if it is set up in a romantic and secluded location.
- Fly your partner to your own private beach. Arrange to have a romantic picnic for two awaiting your arrival. Hervey Bay provides romantic helicopter flights to private beaches with that romantic picnic incorporated.
- Send your partner a great big bunch of roses, with one being fake. The fake rose will open and present the engagement ring. You can purchase fake roses that are actually ring boxes from a variety of shops.
- Fill your partner’s home with flowers and balloons. Upon her arrival, have slow romantic music playing whilst you remain on your knee with the engagement ring. She will be awed by the romantic display.
- Money not an issue, why not purchase a boat and have the boat named with ‘Marry Me (name of your partner)’. It will be a lasting memory.
- If you’re musically inclined then why not write a song for your partner with ‘will you marry me’ incorporated in the lyrics. You can also use for your bridal waltz at your wedding.
