As we’re engaged for less than twelve months, I only get to say this once... (this time next year, it'll be 'husby'!)

BB, I truly hope that you have an amazing birthday, and I just know that you’ll have an amazing year.

Thank you for your love, support, silliness and hugs. You mean the world to me, I hope you feel it.

I’m yours, forever and always. 

After so much indecisiveness, BB & I finally decided on wedding invitations. (Let it be known that the indecisiveness was mine and mine alone. BB was totally happy with every single invitation design that I suggested to him!)

They arrived in the post on Friday, and by Saturday midday they were ready to be posted...! Eeek!

I’m so thrilled with the design we went with, it is a perfect representation of what we’d love our wedding to be – elegant and simple, with a dash of fun.

What’s next on the wedding list...? Ahhhh. Wedding shoes for me. Yes... I’ll be wearing flats, of course!

You guys know that I’m engaged to the man of my dreams, BB. You also know that I’m planning the wedding of our dreams in Port Douglas. And you’d BETTER know that said wedding will have a certain colour woven through most of the elements – coral.

I have chosen my dress (and yes, Mum and my Bridesmaid Shannon had to talk me out of wearing a coral wedding gown. Because I so would have!). BB and I have decided on ceremony and reception venues in Port Douglas in tropical North Queensland. We’re looking at menus and photographers, and I’ve come up with the florals that I’ve always been dreaming of!

Stunning coral wedding inspiration board by Wedding Paper Divas

The only thing that worrying me at the moment is the bridesmaid dress - I'm amazed that it's been impossible to find Shannon a coral dress all through the Summer. We've both been looking everywhere, but incredibly enough, none are jumping out at us! I'd love her to wear a gorgeous dress that she'll wear again, any length, in some shade of bright coral. The tricky part is that we need to find the dress  so that I know the particular shade of coral for me to base the rest of the coral details on! Ahhh. 

Do any of my lovely readers have suggestions for a pretty coral dress (I'd love it to be a floaty Summery maxidress, but any length is fine) for my gorgeous bridesmaid? Please help!

Home. Too tired / lazy to type. Also, I have to wash all the clothes I took on holidays to Tasmania and Fraser Island. Yuk. (Thank GOD we have a top-loading washing machine here. I couldn't bear to do a million large loads in the top-loader we have at Hervey Bay.)

So you, lucky reader, get to check out a handful of pics instead...!

Fun in Tasmania with my lovely fiancé, BB.

Gorgeous shell I found at Shelly Beach, Opossum Bay.

Another glorious day and wonderful evening at the Taste Festival and at Constitution Dock, looking at all the Sydney to Hobart yachts.

Our home away from home, our beach campsite on Fraser Island.

Very cool old-school Aussie shop/pub at Waddy Point, Fraser Island.

Perfect Australian Summer's day: 4WD along the beach, catching some early-morning rays while reading wedding magazines, the BEST icecream ever, and the untouched rainforest on the track to Lake McKenzie. I freaking LOVED Fraser Island.

The smile says it all - absolute Summer holiday perfection! Big thanks to BB for taking me to two incredible Australian islands - Tasmania and Fraser Island. I had a beautiful Christmas and New Year break with you, and I can't wait to get stuck into the amazing experiences that 2012 holds for us!

I don't usually post more than once a day, but today is the end of 2011, and it wouldn’t be right to let it pass by without mention. I won't do a massive and long-winded re-cap of the year, but I will say that this year has been an amazing one, full of unexpected things.

I turned 30 – eeek! I lived through turning 30 and discovered that I love being 30. I get to call teenagers ‘kids’ and Gen Y people ‘idiots’. (Kidding!) After an emotionally tumultuous decade in my twenties, I’ve found love, stability and a little self-assurance.

My sweet boyfriend became my sweeter fiancé when he proposed during a romantic trip to Far North Queensland on a beach at Port Douglas. I began the wonderful process of planning our dream wedding for April next year, and my mother and I have shared some fantastic time together talking about her ‘baby girl’ getting married.

Thank you so very much to the wonderful people who have loved me, supported me and put up with me during the last twelve months, both personally and professionally. I’ve changed jobs (and careers! Bye bye retail!) and changed locations, and met fabulous folk.

I truly hope that every one of you finds peace in your recollections and thoughts of 2011, and excitement in looking forward to 2012.