I won’t be home for Christmas

That’s because James and I are heading off to Hong Kong and Japan in the morning for Christmas and new year! I am too excited… far too excited. I didn’t write about it much because there was a lot of planning to do and there was, of course, my wall of sticky notes, that I started after I lost my job, which contained a lot of little (and big) things that I wanted to do before I left Australia.

Some of these I did get done, which included:

  • Buying georgieluhur.com and opening my new portfolio, a simplistic, one-page design. I even re-did my logo, and as you can see, I combined both my web design and concert photography services. Simple was the way to go, so simple I did. Instead of using georginaluhur.com (because I don’t really go by Georgina anymore), that now redirects to georgieluhur.com.
  • Creating a new responsive WordPress theme for my great friend Seb. Make sure you head on over to A Lonely September and delve into his blog posts because he is a great writer.
  • Creating a new WordPress theme for Caity. She is thrilled with the theme, and it turned out blue even though she was keen for something rainbow.
  • Creating a new theme for Liz, who let me go crazy and free with my design. She loves it, and I am glad.
  • Finally moving my fanlistings over to Carbon Affair (love.georgie.nu), a fanlisting collective named after the Hey Geronimo song of the same name. I also made a responsive web design for the collective. (I need to shut up about RWD but I am so obsessed with it).
  • I ate well, I exercised a ton, I got into lifting dumbbells, and I feel great.
  • I bought a band shirt. Hell yeah.
  • I added blog post thumbnails (see the squares that appear to the left of my post?) to all blog posts… way back until 2009. I started this in 2012, but decided to go back and add thumbnails for all posts instead of showing a default image. See the archives to see how many posts there are, haha.
  • I got a haircut!
  • I finished catching up on Doctor Who and now I am up to date.
  • I cleaned my room.
  • I cleaned my hard drives.

And last but not least, I made Christmas cards. Pretty simplistic compared to last year. I did also use the same resources. The card was really lovely and pearly and I liked the feather-hair-like paper that I used as well. It took me a while to figure out whether I should cut different shapes or not, but to keep it generic and not too religious, I used a star.

A simple star design
A simple star design
Stamping things omg.
Stamping things omg.

I had a few international cards to send as well, which meant that I needed a lot more stamps than usual. Thanks to dad who works at the mailing facility, and is an avid stamp collector, I got more than enough.

All the postage stamps!
All the postage stamps!
Stamped envelopes yay
Stamped envelopes yay

I dumped them in the mailbox down the road today. It was very hot, and I walked because it wasn’t too far. Tristan’s car broke down on his way picking me up, which was really unfortunate. I didn’t want to leave him stranded and I had some CDs to give him for Christmas as well, so I walked to where his car had broken down and we spent some time trying to push it out of the way and to the side of the road.

In hindsight it’s pretty funny. But it’s inconvenient as hell. I do not like cars, haha. It isn’t fixed yet, but I guess he can be thankful that it didn’t happen in the middle of a massive highway.

In about 14 hours I will be on a plane. Oh god.

Did I mention this is my first overseas trip without my family? Too freaked out and excited at the same time.

Oh and did I mention I am meeting Daniel after knowing him for five-or-so years?

I don’t think I should be bottling up this emotion.

Comments on this post

Just seeing how much you got done plus our upcoming adventures gets me all pumped up for this coming winter break! I agree. There’s no need to bottle up this emotion. You know how they say laughter and yawn are contagious? I think your case proves that such concept applies to anticipation and excitement. :)

Have a fabulous time in Hong Kong and Japan! I am so jealous :D

And you’ve accomplished a lot before your trip! Yay for being productive! I especially like your portfolio site. Very simple yet elegant. As well as your cards! :)

I’m wishing you a wonderful time in Hong Kong and Japan!

You really accomplished a lot of things before your trip, you should be really proud on yourself (Y)

I also love your simple design of your cards!

I read your wall of sticky notes post and Origrami is amazing! I’ve been looking for a way to get more prints of my pictures. I love having the physical pictures more than having the digital copies. Though I don’t have the $$ to buy copies right now. :(

Have fun overseas! It sounds like you are going to have a lot of fun! (:

You accomplished A LOT before you left! Congrats! Everything looks great! I had no idea you made Liz’s theme! It looks great!
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Thanks! Now I get to take a test to get accepted into my Bachelor’s Degree program…first I have to actually apply to transfer schools…ugh. I haven’t done anything with that yet and scholarships end in March…I gotta get some applications in!!! I just don’t to face the fact that I will need scholarships. >.<

Thanks for joining my forum! I know I am late on my reply to your comment but better late than never! (:

You managed to get a lot done. I really like the theme you made for Liz, I think the colors are very soothing.

I was browsing your fanlisting collective (I am amazed fanlistings are still popular, I had tons of fanlistings for years but I closed them all about three years ago) and I am in love with your Minecraft fanlisting. Such an awesome game, right?

I think your christmas cards were great. Simplistic is usually the best way to go.

Hope you have tons of fun on your trip to Hong Kong and Japan (I would love to visit there), hope you share pictures with us when you come back.

I’m so happy that you were able to mail out all your cards before going on your trip!

I’m also happy that you’re finally getting to have your own little vacation with James! I bet he’s excited as well? Finally some time off from life and enjoying a month or more in the most exotic countries! Japan and Hong Kong! I do hope you have a wonderful Christmas in Japan and Hong Kong, and that you get to see everything while over there! I’m not sure if this is open for tourists or not, but try to see some of the old cities in Japan that samurai families live in. If not – that would be a bummer.

I like the fact that you created your own Christmas cards. I didn’t do that this year – I couldn’t afford any, and hard to borrow some from the Grandma. But I do like your concept though.

I like all your themes that you’ve created for everyone and for your sites. I especially like your fanlisting collective. All simple, and not hard on the eyes. I love it.

I hope you have a really amazing time. :’)

It is wonderful that you could get so many things finished before jetting off. I honestly don’t know how you do all these things sometimes!

I adore what you have on your portfolio and the themes you have made for others. They look so great. :D ♥

Out of curiosity, do you design logos for commission? /um

I’ve wanted thumbnails, and I’ve tried before, but my problem is that I’m much too lazy to really keep up with it. Maybe once I get back to a place where I can take pictures of things like I used to I’ll really able to? I don’t know.

Ah! I still have your card from last year! (…somewhere) I looked for its whereabouts this year for your address so I could send you a surprise one, but I couldn’t find it because #messyroom and I need to look through my things. /bash

What are the numbers on the envelopes for? I like the stamps, by the way. They seem so fun and unique and (heh) foreign. xDD XD

I love love love the photo you shared of all the stamps, so pretty. I’m really into mail art right now it’s hitting home for me. Also, the theme you made for caity.nu is so gorgeous I can barely even stand it.

Enjoy your trip, happy Christmas and new year.