Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia. ~Charles Schulz

So, 30kms is a lot longer than I thought it would be and official tired me out for way too long. Judy and I did this race together for....some good cause...I don't remember what it was, something with kids. Anyhow, the race started at 8am and we finished close to 11. It took forever, we kept thinking we were close to the end and than we saw the 20kms sign, ages later we thought it was just around the corner, and it was 10kms away. We were exhausted by the end but it was pretty cool to have done it.

A bit of back tracking. The other week Andrew made an offer on the house we saw in Gowrie and they accepted it. We've been going through the whole process, it feels like it's taking ages when you're actually in the middle of it. This past week contracts exchanged so if all goes well we should be moving in in less than a month. It's 3 bedrooms with a family room attached to the kitchen and a large lounge room. The backyard is where the driveway actually comes in and is completely paved so it has a good entertainment area, deck and place to hang our laundry. The front yard has a path running at the edge which leads down to the local shops and primary school We are so so excited, so here is the link to the ad: http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/4-inwood-place-gowrie-canberra/1316744635011

A small part of our front yard that leads to the path, it isn't fenced in yet but that will be one of our first steps

the side of our front yard with the lounge room on the right

looking from the dining room door through the kitchen to the family room, the main door is on the left just past the counter with the hallway to the bedrooms on the right

looking from the middle of the family room to the kitchen and seeing into the dining room. the bookcase is attached although we're thinking about removing the shelves on the left so we can put two stools there

from the garage to the paved entertainment area with our main door there on the right, we're going to follow the owners example and put a picnic table set in that same area

from the main door to the garage. the current owner is a bit odd and really likes his privacy and hangs out in the garage all the time so he has random sheets and curtains and such all over the outside to keep people from seeing him, even though there is a big fence all the way around. he's so strange that he does his washing in the garage...even though there is a washing machine and dryer in the house....strange

this was just a random umbrella he has in the bushes, just part of his "privacy screen"

the deck on the side of the house

this is the entrance to the house, since it is set back so far from the other houses on the street he has a garage door at the beginning of the driveway so that when it's closed (which he always closes it) you can't even tell that there is something behind there, it just looks like it's the neighbors garage door, the house is incredibly secure, there are even metal rollers on all the windows and doors

Other than that not too much is going on. I'm really liking my new job, I think it's actually that I really like being in charge. My official title is Business Manager and I actually run the entire office. I get to tell everyone what to do and they have to listen to me, including the principal/owner. And Ben, the principal, really likes it because he has someone that can run the business so he can concentrate on being an agent and he also has someone to confide in and to bounce ideas off of. So far they've been really impressed with my work and all my ideas of things to changes, bring the staff together and to help us grow in a customer based way, it's pretty neat. Although it is very hard work, I've never worked as hard or been as stressed as I am with this job but I try and look at it as it's challenging me.

Two Fridays ago we had a social afternoon with the two other Ray Whites in Canberra which are both owned by Doug, who is part owner of ours. A few of us knocked off work early and met at the Canberra Lawn Bowls Club for an afternoon of drinks and bowls before a bbq dinner. I thought bowls would be just like bocce but the balls are actually irregularly shaped so you have to throw them just right so they curve either to the right or left. I didn't do terribly, even won my team some points. We won our first game but lost our second. It was a really nice way to spend a Friday afternoon, and a good way to get to know some of the people in the other offices since we never see them. I ended up getting a rid home from the owner Doug since my phone was dead and I couldn't call Andrew to come get me. It was really nice of him.

Saturday since Andrew and I didn't have to go look at houses we rode our bikes to Bunnings, our version of Home Depot, to take a look at plants, fences and paint, just to get an idea. Since they do sausage cook outs ever Saturday it's a nice excuse. That night we went into the city for karaoke for Andrew and Kate's birthday (which is April 1st just like Ashley's). I decided to play DD since I didn't have much money and it would give me a chance to give Kate's car a test spin. We got to hang out with a bunch of the kids from work which was great and a few of Andrew's friends came along to round out the group, as soon as I can steal the camera from Kate I'll release some photos. I think my favorite was three of the kids from work getting up to do "Ice, Ice Baby" complete with rocking early 90s dancing, I couldn't stop laughing.

Sunday night we went out to dinner for Andrew's birthday and Tuesday we were out to dinner again, this time for Kate's birthday. We went to one of those restaurants where they cook right in front of you. Now, in the states they build towers out of onions that they set on fire and throw cook shrimp at you, this one took it a bit too far. The first thing the cook did when he got out there was give everyone a small rice bowl, and than he threw eggs at us that we were supposed to catch in the bowl. I don't know if anyone has every seen me try and catch before but it's not pretty in the best of times, this time the egg missed the bowl completely, smacked into my shoulder and broke all down the front of me, yea, did I mention these were raw eggs he was throwing. I wasn't very happy to be sitting there covered in egg. After he cooked the egg up he was throwing little pieces and he made all of us try and catch it in our mouth, if we missed or caught it with our hand instead he kept throwing it. The first one hit me in the eye, the second went into my hair and fell down my back the third I caught and gave him the if-you-throw-one-again-I'll-scream look and he moved on. I was not a happy camper cause now I was covered in raw and cooked egg, not really a fun way to spend an evening.

Once he finally stopped throwing things and we actually got to eat my mood improved because the food was quite delicious. We had miso soup to start, than some kind of chicken custard, it was like a savory creme brulee, different but good, than there was sweet chili fish, chicken teriyaki, rib eye steak, and veggies rounded off with a nice vanilla ice cream and fruit to finish. Besides the egg it was a tasty tasty meal.

Last weekend was Andrew went away with Damen to a big blue festival at Byron Bay. He headed out Wednesday and came back Sunday so I had the house to myself for a bit which was, although a little scary being in the big house all alone. Since it was Easter we had Friday and Monday off last weekend so it was a nice long break, hard to get back to work. Andrew had a great time on his trip and is still recovering now which is why this weekend is we are all about relaxing. I'm going to get back to that now.