Least we forget

As usual these past weeks went by before I could even blink. Last weekend one of Andrew's best friends, Will, got married so we had a busy time with the wedding, post-wedding bbq and dinner with one of the guys from out of town.

Since the wedding was on Friday in the very early evening Andrew and I both took the day off. We spent the morning trying to finish off loan, first home buyers grant and other paperwork. He had a bbq at Will's for lunch and then did manly boy stuff to get ready while I relaxed at home, it was great to get a whole day off.

The wedding was held at one of the oldest hotels in the city outside in the courtyard just before sunset. Pip looked beautiful and she couldn't stop smiling and giggling throughout the ceremony, very sweet. The reception was held in the hotel after the wedding so we all spread out through the courtyard and terrace for drinks and appetizers while photographs were being taken. For the dinner I was sitting with Andrew's friends that I'm friends with which made it really like, both Bonnie and Sara (partners with Damon & Dean) were baby-less for the evening and quite enjoyed being able to drink with the rest of us for one of the first time since becoming pregnant. Our old roommate Simon was at our table as well, he came back to town from middle of nowhere New South Wales where he is drilling for water for the wedding.

Will, Damon, me and Andrew

Will & Pip love making ice cream so they custom made two flavors for desert,
I can't remember what mine was but it was so tasty

Since a lot of the guys have moved away this was the first time in a few years that they have all gotten together. As a result of this there was plenty of drinking, dancing and laughing throughout the reception. We tried to do an archway of sparklers for Will & Pip to run through at the end of the night, while we were waiting one of Andrew's friends decided to trying and light and throw a match in one move, this went back and forth a few times until on came flying across the aisle and managed to land right down my top, while it was still on fire. I screamed and Andrew quickly hit me to make sure the fire went out before it sent my dress on fire. It was over in a matter of seconds and we all laughed immediately after but Andrew's friend felt so guilty for the rest of the night making sure I was ok. We all found it to be a fairly amusing story to tell later.


After Will & Pip left, a group of us headed towards the casino to have some drinks and go dance in an 80's club. Much to our disappointment the dance club wasn't open that night so we head to another bar where we could play pool and dance, the girls were really keen on the dancing part. We had a great time and it was really nice to get to know some of Andrew's friends from out of town.

Saturday there was a post-wedding bbq at Will's parents house. Will's parents always know how to throw a good party, there were drinks, bbq chicken and lots and lots of homemade pizza made in their outdoor pizza oven. We took a walk to show Will and his brothers our house since it's just around the corner from Will's parents, the whole event reminded me of when we used to have neighborhood bbq's in Texas.

That night we went into the city to have dinner with Andrew's friend George, his wife Amal and their absolutely adorable kid Raphael, plus Will & Pip. It was a nice end to busy wedding time. Luckily Sunday we didn't have any plans so we got to relax, go grocery shopping and Andrew played guitar with Anthony, which has become a Sunday tradition recently.

This week hasn't been overly stressful or busy which is good, I got to work from home Friday morning which was a very nice way to start the day, it almost made it go quicker, except that no one was in the office Friday so it made it a lot harder for me to concentrate and actually get things done.

Friday night I hung out with Kate and Claire over at the Walker's house. We spent the evening playing childhood games like one called Nightmare that includes a videotape you have to play while playing the game, it was really pretty entertaining. Then we played Uno Stacker, a combination of Uno and Jenga, it had us laughing so much we were all crying by the end. Andrew joined us for the last game but he couldn't figure out how it was fair to have one loser and three winners. Good wholesome night though and we all went away smiling.

Saturday Andrew and I started the great packing process, we're going to try and start showing our townhouse soon so we need to pack and move a bunch of stuff out to declutter it as much as possible. We spent a bit of time watching on of my friends play rugby, but it was so cold and rainy that we only made it through the first half, rugby is a confusing game.

Andrew has started trying to get some experience doing video work so last night he met up with this student group he is working with to put together video for a website they are creating about music in Canberra. Kate and I tagged along to the show with Kate's friend Ella. The first band was a bit too heavy for me but the group they were filming was really good. It was a long evening but a lot of fun to get out and hear some local music.

This morning we were up before the crack of dawn, literally, to make it into the city for the ANZAC Day dawn service a the war memorial. The service started at 5:30am so we were up and moving by 4. It was a very lovely service in memory of the men and women who fought on the turkish beach during World War II and those that still fight today. There were many many thousands of people in attendance and it was really nice to be a part of something like that. They take the memorial very seriously and it was nice to see so many people my age out there showing their support remembrance for the troops.

After having a nap Andrew is now making breakfast before we meet Kate and go to the local rugby club for drinks and to play a game called "2 up", which it is only legal to play on ANZAC Day. They've tried to explain the game to me and it all sounds a bit odd so I'll have to see if I can figure it out while were out there this afternoon. Hopefully everyone is having a nice relaxing weekend enjoying the beginnings of spring as we slowly slip in the other direction.

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.

Quick update

So, a quick recap of our week before last before I move on to the good stuff from this past week, yes I know I'm behind, I don't know if I'll ever be ahead again.

So, two weeks ago, Monday, Andrew's car get stolen from the bus parking lot while he's at work, they find the car later that night and it turns out when the people stole it they decided to do a little B&E with it, so the car was used to cart away stolen goods, such a good feeling. We still don't have the car back but Andrew is a little worried it's going to feel weird when he drives it again, I'm sure the guys messed it up so I won't be that surprised.

Tuesday, they turned out electricity off because they lost our paperwork from November applying for electricity in our townhouse and decided that 4 months later was a good time to take some action. Andrew had even spoken to them earlier that day and straightened everything out because we got a letter but since it was in their system to turn ours off a technician was already on its way, something they failed to tell Andrew. After repeated phone calls and promises that someone was coming we finally got power back sometime on Wednesday. It really syched me up for my first day at the new job getting ready for work in the dark.

I started the new job Wednesday, I wasn't in my office but at the main office which is just down the road from here so I could get trained in their software and what exactly I need to do. The girl who was training me, Andy, was really nice and incredibly helpful. Luckily she had been on maternity leave recently so she had a whole binder full of typed notes she handed over to me that gave me a step-by-step on every task. It was a good couple of days to slowly ease me into the Ray White company. My office is part owned by the main office and part owned by this guy Ben.

Friday afternoon I finally got to head out to my office for a few hours to figure out the phone systems, the printer, where everything is set-up and get my space the way I want it. It's a very small office, we've just added a 7th realtor to our group which is very exciting. Because it's so small I sit at the front and do a bit of reception work as well since we don't have the money or space to hire one.

Last weekend Andrew and I went to see a few more houses, one of them being in Gowrie (the suburb his parents live in) and out of our price range. Sadly, prices are so out of control here that we realized we have to bring our price range up a bit. We decided that we actually really like the place, even if the current owner hung sheets all down his driveway, over the garage and put umbrellas in the bushes, plus sat in the garage while the open house was on, he was the first thing you saw when you walked down the driveway so it was a bit weird. We ended up talking to him a bit because he had put giant roll down metal security shutters on all the doors and windows that completely lock the house and I just wanted to make sure it wasn't for an actual security reason. He is a real nice guy and was happy to answer all of our questions.

On our way home that day we decided to talk to Andrew's parents about the actual possibility of raising or price range a bit so we could make an offer on the house.

Well, I'm off for a 30kms bike ride now, I'll fill in on last week and this weekend tonight when I'm home.

Melbourne has the second largest Greek population in the world, after Athens.

Two weekends ago was so much fun. Andrew headed off to the Gold Coast for his friend Will's Buck's Weekend (their version of a bachelor party) and I ran away to meet Rod and Liv in Melbourne. After a 3 hours delay I landed safely in Melbourne to see the end of Satan's revenge on the city, which was what I'm calling the massive storm that hit the city. Roofs collapsed, cars were destroyed, train stations were closed and streets were flooded. It was chaotic, and was the cause for my massive delay and it taking me another 2 hours to get from the airport to our hostel.

The hostel was really nice, we had a room for just the three of us just down from the bathrooms, with a flat screen tv and plenty of room to move around, and since it was a hostel it was incredibly cheap, we might give it a try if we meet in the city again.

After I was given time to dry off the three of us headed off through the rain to meet with some other friends of ours, Mick (another Aussie) and his girlfriend Pil(a Dane like Liv) who just moved back to Melbourne from London recently and a few of their friends. The bar we went to was so trendy we walked past it 3 times before we saw the birdcage hanging over the door that was the only sign for the Red Hummingbird.

After a few drinks there Mick led us to the italian district to a restaurant owned by an acquaintance of Mick's father. The food was absolutely amazing, I had a massive bowl of delicious pasta and split a small pizza with Liv and Rod, we just couldn't help ourselves, it all smelled so good. I am surprised that we managed to walk out of there once we were done eating, I just can't get over how good it was, and not expensive at all. If anyone is heading to Melbourne eat at Cafe Trevi. From dinner we walked a few doors down to a nearby bar for some pool. Everyone was disappointed that Andrew had to miss out so we're going to plan another weekend soon.

Saturday Liv and I did a bit of shopping meeting up with Rod for meals before the three of us hopped a free trolley down to check-out the Docklands where we looked at a photography gallery and had some ice cream while wandering around the shops and waterfront. We relaxed in the room for a bit with a few beers and Uno while we waited to see if the storm was going to hit again, which it of course did as soon as we stepped outside.

Because of all the rain we were running from shelter to shelter be it a doorway, bus stop or even a tree, so we decided to turn it into a rain pub crawl and stop at bars along the way to stay dry. We started at this cool Hawaiian bar where we partook of the happy hour cocktails, I went for a Mai Tai which was very good just not as good as the ones Dad makes, they must have used less rum.

Mai Tai's in the rain, so good

From there we went to a brew house to try some locally made beer before grabbing a quick dinner of fast food and locating an irish pub with live music. We stuck at the pub longest, mainly because of the live music and the ridiculously cheap beer.

Brewhouse:

Not a bar but a really tasty treat

There were lobsters, crabs, fishes and we have no idea what the one on the top left is, if anyone has an idea. They were all in the window of an asian restaurant

Irish pub:

Monday was our last day and Liv and I were very excited about getting to go to Ikea, it is the closest one for her and my closest one is in Sydney so this was my first time to get to go since being here. We had the best time and it was really hard for me to control myself and not buy things since I wouldn't be able to get it home with me. They dropped my in the city on their way out of town so I could try and see some things before heading to the airport. As luck would have it soon after they left me it started pouring rain again. I started walking towards the train station. I decided to avoid the rain for a bit and hid out in this great little pub called Insigna right across from the Aquarium. It has incredibly comfortable couches and a great decor and was very hard to leave though luckily the rain had stopped by that point.

This past week was sadly my last one at ASADA since my contract was ending and as I'm not a resident I'm not allowed to stay. Luckily I've been getting a good amount of interviews and Thursday I was given an offer from one of the main real estate companies in Canberra. They have just opened a new office and have asked me to come in and run the office, kind of scary to think I am going to be in charge of people, weird. We'll have to see how it goes.

This past weekend we had drinks Friday night with some of the kids from my work and than went home to meet some of Andrew's s friend to watch some football. Saturday we had to do some house hunting, it's a very grim market out there right now and so far we haven't found anything as much as the place that we went to auction for on Wednesday. We were really excited about the auction and thought we had a very good chance of getting it, the bank evaluated it at $375 , the place ended up going for $422, so absurd, only two people bid and everyone else stood around in shock. But we continue on, this weekend we'll do some more looking. So everyone fingers crossed that we find something soon that we like. Until...well probably Sunday cause I know I'm super behind with this.


ps- we're on fire....or they were doing some backburning and the wind picked up
I know the bottom two pictures may not look very impressive but there are houses, towers and mountains hidden in that smoke, I'll take a non-smoke picture tomorrow for comparison

You fling yourselves into the sea when you're not walking around audibly crackling in the heat. And the sea is full of jellyfish and sharks and....

...and other things that hate you."

Getting close to being a month behind, I think I need to get better at this.

It's been a pretty busy few weeks. The other week Canberra had an annual multi-cultural festival. Andrew and I went down Saturday because they just filled about 5 blocks full of stalls that were serving food from all different countries. We decided to be smart and split every thing we got so that we could eat more, it was a good plan, next year we think we'll skip breakfast and stay there through dinner because everything we ate was sooooo good.

Our downfall, no idea what it was but it's a delicious Mediterranean and full of spinach,
feta cheese and some kind of ground meat. Our tasty desert

That night I went out with some of the girls from work for karaoke to celebrate two of the girls birthdays. It was such a good time, everyone was singing and dancing, they're really fun girls.

Last weekend was of course Valentine's Day. We decided to keep it pretty low-key. Saturday night we went out for dinner to a Japanese restaurant called Iori, it has a reputation for being the best Japanese restaurant in the city and after eating there we could see why. We each got a platter, mine was different kinds of chicken plus miso soup, and Andrew's was different kinds of salmon and crab hot pot. We were so stuffed and happy when we left, it was top notch.

After dinner we went to Damon's to watch the first Australian Rules Football game of the season, Andrew is a big fan so he was really keen to get together with his friends to watch it.

Sunday morning we slept in before having a homemade brunch and then we proceeded to watch movies and play video games before I made great steaks, not as good as Dad does but I'm off to a good start. We finished the meal with cupcake size chocolate chip cheesecakes I made, yummy.

This weekend we decided we were finally going to spend a weekend at the beach. We drove down Saturday and put up a tent in this nice eco-resort right next to the ocean. It's the same place that Andrew's parents used to take him when he was younger, although it has grown a bit since he was last there. We managed to get the tent up all right which was pretty impressive since it was our first time trying. The ocean was not too cold so we got to swim for quite a while, the beach was deserted too so we had it all to ourselves. After getting slammed by waves for a while we explored the tidal pools for a while.

tons of seaweed piled all over the beach

Weird metal canister that was on the side of the beach

Andrew was trying out my camera, learning how to adjust setting and such

The cool thing about this place is that there were kangaroos all over the place and they were so calm, they didn't even move when you got within two feet of them. I was going to pet them but got a bit too nervous, next time though because later I saw some kids petting them, and if they didn't get mauled I certainly wont. It was so neat to look up and just see a kangaroo bounding through the campsites, I couldn't stop giggling.

All sorts of wildlife running rampant - kangaroos, a kookaburra, more kangaroos and a blue bottle jellyfish

The beach Sunday morning

Today was so hot that I felt I was melting a bit. I sat by the ocean for a while waiting for Andrew to wake up. The heat caught up with me when we were packing up the tent, even sitting there eating breakfast I actually had sweat dripping down my face, Andrew thought it was kind of funny but I was not enjoying it. After packing up the tent we decided we had earned another swim before going home.

Tonight was something called Troc Fest, it's a short film festival that is shown all across Australia at the same time. Everyone gets picnics and lawn chairs and sits around on the grass watching the movies.

January 26, Australia day, is the anniversary of ships arriving in Sydney carrying a load of Convicts.

This past weekend Andrew and I kept pretty busy. Saturday we bummed around a bit before going to see the WNBL Canberra Capitols play the Sydney Heat. I'm not too into basketball but by the end of the game I was on the edge of my seat cheering along with the rest of the crowd waiting to see if we would make it through the semi-finals. We won by two points in overtime, it was amazing! On the way out we decided that if they get a home game for the finals we'll be there.

Sunday we were going to go to the beach for the day but we got halfway there and saw that it was still so cloudy, I checked and it was going to be cloudy, slightly drizzly and only a little warm all day. We decided to head back instead of wasting our time driving down on a crappy day. Instead we spent the day relaxing at home watching movies.

Monday for pre-Australia day we went over to the Walkers for a bbq before heading to Parliament House lawn for Day 1 of Australia Day celebration. They announced Australian of the Year and had 6 or so bands play. We were pretty excited in a dorky way for Hailey Warner, she was runner up Australian Idol this year and Andrew and I were cheering for her during the competition.

I have to say that people give Americans crap all the time for being patriotic but we are nothing compared to an Aussie on Australia Day. Any day of the year you can walk into an Aussie bar anyhow and if you yell out "Aussie Aussie Aussie" the entire bar will answer you back with a resounding "Oi! Oi! Oi!". I have never seen such patriotism as I did as the celebrations Monday night. There were shirts (tee, tank, halter), hats (bucket, baseball, straw, jester, cowboy), stickers, tattoos, flip flops, sneakers, shorts, underwear, bras, bathing suits for me and women, towels, coolers, kuzzes, tents, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, buttons, coloured wigs, flags of all kinds, small flags, car flags, flags made into dresses, shirts, skirts, capes, really little flags, bunting, beach balls, balloons, blow up kangaroos, inflatable number 1 fingers, inflatable bats, umbrellas, and that's just what I can remember seeing last night. It's beyond absurd. And these are normal people, on 4th of July there are some people who go all out and will wear hats, shirts or something but this crowd was covered with it, our group was overflowing with Kate and her friends covered in flags of all kinds.

Andrew and Nathan relaxing before the show

Look at all the crazy Aussies

Andrew all Red Sox-ed out

It was a whole lot of fun to listen to all the music and just relax in the warmth for the evening. They even did a flyover with their equivalent of the Blue Angels, it was really cool to watch.

Tuesday for actual Australia Day we decided to sleep in before heading to Pine Island to swim for a few hours. The day was nice and relaxing, as most of our days are, swimming then down to the city to meet Dave for a drink before watching the massive amount of fireworks going on on the river.

Down at Pine Island

Good first Australia Day in Australia all around. The half week back at work was really slow and painful but completely worth it for last weekend.