Author: Amanda Viviers

 

Place: Burswood Hotel
Poison: Long Black
Favourite Things: Make up artist (Rebecca) and Hairdresser
The Big Day!
Well, three years ago on an unsuspecting Saturday night sitting at church I turned in the Meet and Greet time and smiled a random girl, not knowing that she would become one of my closest friends.
She looked away and rejected my initial advance in the whole Meet and Greet Protocol. No way! I had a meet and greet failure. Unbeknown to me she was very shy. Later that week I received an email, saying ‘So sorry I am really shy and I turned away at meet and greet, but next week please come say hi, I would love to meet you!’
Okay, you are saying that sounds a little weird, but the coolest thing is a random encounter at church has brought together two like hearted people, me and Miss Elly.
We have flatted together now for 2 and a half years. This season is now over as today I am one of her bridesmaids and have the privilege of seeing one of my nearest and dearest commit her life before God, to her lovely man ‘Mr Ben Vance’.
Here is a tribute to Miss Elly, to her consistency, to our late night chats, for her patience with my morning vibes! Basically I think she is amazing, and is looking completely fab right now.
Here’s a toast to many more years of laughs, love and life filled with magic moments.

Come on let’s get married…
Excited
A
 

Place: Burswood Intercontinental Hotel 

Poison: A glass of white wine 

Favourite Things: Miss Elly & her wedding dress floating in the bedroom 

On the back of two full nights of hectic event management, the only thing that has stopped this champagne bottle from overflowing has been the steady hand of my mum trailing along side of me. 

She came up to Perth to hang out with me in the midst of Hertime Occasion, Peter Brock’s Memorial Service, Elly’s Wedding and Church this weekend. The thing that makes my mum so intriguing, generous and vivacious, she is a twin. Right from the start of her life she has had to live a life of partnership, which I fully believe has made her a remarkable person. She had the choice to become jealous, attention seeking and frustrated at this person who was so much like her, yet they both made a commitment to allow this partnership to make them better mothers, lovers and friends. 

Growing up, we were exposed to much naughtiness, game playing and competition at the hand of two individuals who had a bond so strong that they created an amazing dynamic together.

 

Check this out! (Yes I am in a red sailor outfit!) 

Anyway, my thought for today is that two hands joined together are so much stronger than one. Event Management and creativity are strengthened by the power of partnership. 

I would never have wanted to attempt the last week without a team of people around me. Solo shooters; leaders who run out ahead all alone are unprotected and unsafe. 

Yeah it maybe easier in the long term, because there is no one who disagrees with your opinion, but in the long term you will be weaker because of it. 

The pursuits and pleasures that my mum and her twin have embarked upon together are breathtaking. The fulcrum of our family was balanced by the partnership at the core of it- the twins. 

Creativity that is self-centred, self-seeking and self-driven is a small right at the very essence. 

Partnership reverbs as the heart of our universe. If you think it is easier to create alone, you are living a life so much smaller than you were intended too. 

As my head hits the pillow, bridesmaid central, partnership is powerful… 

Praying that tomorrow is a day that marks a relationship and partnership that lasts the length of a life time. 

Much Love 

A

 

Place: Office

Poison:Long Black

Favourite Things: My mum sitting behind me reading a book!

Some days are bleak, some days are dull, then once in a while a ‘pj on the beach type of day’ is captured!

Last night we had our bi-annual hertime occasion. An evening for women all accross our city to be loved on, pampered and last nights theme was ‘Energy’.

We had nearly 1,000 women in our auditorium with a live painting, coupled with a spanish guitarist. Connisuer icecream and Killawarra champagne mini’s with straws. 80’s try hard dancers and men in tight tights!

It was hilarious, stressful, energetic and draining all in one package…Being a glutton for punishment I am getting ready right now for another night, a whole new crowd and a new set of drama’s that test an event managers patience.

I woke up early this morning, with the foreground grunt of my mum’s snoring, remembering this day not so long ago when the GTC went waltzing along the dunsborough foreshore in our pajama’s.

Some days, when life is stressful, when 1,000 women are begging for their icecream NOW! You need to remember those days when life was carefree, when you didn’t give a stuff about who sees you in your sleepwear and just smile.

Creativity is highlighted by those ireplacable moments in time that will never be repeated and always cherished.

Here’s to a new night of event management, supported and cherished by those closest (even in our pajama’s on the beach!)

Love it!

A

Place: My Office

Poison: Skinny Flat White

Favourite Things: Museli and Yoghurt (YUM)

I have many fond memories of my mum, but one of the most vivid is her amazing ability to make a house a home. She did this in so many ways, but mostly in hospitality and the openess of her heart and our front door.

She owned a small cafe when I was in primary school called ‘Patty’s Pantry’ and it embodied the grace and generousity of her whole life.

She taught me from a very young age that the dinner table and the kitchen are the heart of a home! Scones, muffins, homemade sausauge rolls, sponge cakes were so much more about her heart to love on people, than the actual contents of the recipe.

My mum would get up at 3am to bake (OH WHAT A WOMAN!), but her life (as all of them have been, from swimwear manufacturing, fabric warehouses and cafes) was all about commitment to the people she served and the smile and heart that she generously gave.

Here is a photo from last year’s ‘Annual GTC Christmas Cookie Bake off!’ I love it… More than anything it speaks to me about life, moments, capturing creativity and friendship.

Food is not found in the recipe, it is all about the heart. A great chef adds more than the ingrediants on a page, a great chef creates character in the food.

I love to cook, but more than that, I love to live loud with food and the atmosphere of a home. Wherever you find yourself, grab another and celebrate life. Its the only one you’ve got!

Yum!

A

PS- And have a glass of wine for me, toasting to the good not evil in this big, wild old world.

 

 

 

 

Place: Milkd

Poison: Skinny Cap

Favourite Things: Miss Elly and the start of her weddding week!

Paul De Jong, is a speaker from Auckland New Zealand one of my favourite places in the entire world. A big shout out to Hannah, Ruthie, Annie and all the crew at ACLC.

At church some guest speakers come and go, three weeks later, a new theme and they are forgotton. This weekend however, Paul brought something that left a deposit in the hearts of our people,the message he brought to our city was simply life defining for many.

His message was called ‘Room for Revolution’. The main point ‘Are you making room for revolution in your life?Basically are you making room for healing, power, life, love, the essence of Jesus Christ to bring about the revolution in that which He was designed to bring.

He spoke out of a chapter in the old testemant, about a woman who was desperate to have a child. She tragically lost that child in his teens, and her response to the happenings surrounding his death. This woman has captured my attention and reminded me of the many times that I have given up hoping for the revolution that God wants to bring into my world and those around me.

Her attitude to the hard trials of life has spoken to me so deeply. She tried year after year, miscarriage after miscarriage to concieve, her sentiments ‘It is well with my soul’. Not a depressive, ‘eeyore’ sigh! A raw expression of a heart that trusts in God not man to bring about the revolution and the promises looming in the wings. So after 12 herat wrenching conceptions and 12 heart wrenching deaths, she carried a baby to full term. Then tragically he son dies before her, sounds like an episode of Grey’s Anatomy hey!

Her response was not a screaming match with the doctors however. Her response as she turns to the camera, with a depth and integrity ‘It is well!’

How often do we fall straight into the stance of defence when life throws us some high balls. This woman from centuries ago has taught this pilgrim to believe big in a God who is everpresent in our hour of need. 

Make room for revolution. Not allowing the challenge to dominate my everyday, refusing to accept second best and allowing the time needed for the miracle to be birthed.

It is well! Can I truly say that about some dreams and desires I have that are taking decades to be realised?

It is well…

A