New House!

As promise, here are photographs of our new house. We're slowly still putting things together so there is a bit of a mess but I figured people would want to see photos sooner rather than later. So here we go, a tour of my house, starting with my boys relaxing on the couch:

Lounge room from the entry hall, the dining room is through the opening on the right

Our bedroom with it's lovely feature wall finished. The other walls are a light sand colour that matches the bedspread. Also, opposite the bed is a wall of closets that have mirrored doors.

My office, those bookshelves were already there which was great because all I had to do was paint and move in.

Family room/kitchen from the end of the family room, the sliding doors on the right go out into our backyard which is paved, has a two car garage and is where our driveway is.

Family room/kitchen from the dining room door, the door on the far right side leads down to the bedrooms, my office and the bathroom.

From our garage, you can see the sliding door where we enter the house, take a look at this earlier blog to see how much more open this is now that we've removed all the sails from the property. View of our deck, again without the sails. The house just looks so much brighter now.

The next step will be to move the fence so that we can have a nice big green yard as well to relax and garden in.

Coming Soon

Well this past weekend Andrew and I finally moved into our new house, big yay! The weekend was full of hard work moving all the furniture and boxes, trying to unpack (so far just the kitchen, lounge and family room are together), trying to stop the puppy from peeing on things, eating packing material and getting stuck in small spaces. We also had to buy a new fridge, which is big and amazing compared to our old one which has become the party fridge in the garage.

Andrew and his dad spent most of the time cutting away all the shade clothe from overhead, it makes such a difference, we can see so much sky now when we go outside, they even trimmed some of the planters which has made the backyard seem so much bigger now that the garden isn't taken over the space.

I managed to paint my office and desk and get 3 walls done in our bedroom, we're going to do the feature wall this weekend so we can finally move into our bedroom and unpack all our clothes, as of now they are strewn about the spare bedroom where we're set-up at the moment.

Coopa is absolutely loving the new house, he just runs all over the place happy as can be. The guy who lived there before had dogs too but didn't want them going on the grass so the backyard is all paved with even the planters fenced in. The big problem with this is that for the first day Coopa couldn't find a place to go to the bathroom because he kept looking for grass. Finally we kicked the end off one of the planters and he now trots happily in there to go to the bathroom, a fairly smart dog I'd say.

He loves to be with us at all times and has a great time when we bring him into the lounge with us in the evenings so he can nap while we watch a movie or tv. Oh, and speaking of movies and tv, the old owner left us his very flash surround sound and dvd player, this player is so good that it plays my American dvds (freakin sweet) which means that Andrew and I had to curl up the other night and watch Star Trek, because how can you pass that up with movie theatre quality surround sound.

So the bit that will be coming soon is the photographs, we're going to get everything put away and straightened into its place this weekend so I can take some photos to show you all how awesome our place looks now that it's all ours. In the mean time, if you're in need of some photographs I've started a new blog to try and keep my creative juices flowing and force myself to take photographs now that I'm out of uni. So check it out and keep an eye on my work as I try some bizarre things over the next few months: http://beautifullyunexpected.blogspot.com/

I shall call him Squishie, and he shall be mine, and he shall be my Squishie

Yesterday we picked up our puppy and he is absolutely adorable and loves us so much already. He's been fairly good so far, only going in the house twice, and once was in the night while we were sleeping but he's starting to get good about going outside. He was so timid when we first got him but it didn't long before he was crawling all over us and wanting to play.

As this is the first puppy for both of us, Andrew has had dogs before but never a puppy, we took tons of pictures and thought we'd share them with you, so enjoy the wonder that is Coopa.







That's not actually how his face is, he just got his lip caught on his tooth and Andrew thought it was cute because it looked like he was snarling.

So that is our puppy, I hope you guys like him. There will be plenty more photos of him over the next, oh, 12-16 years :)

Hit 'em up!

This is just a quick note to finally explain the mystery that is 2-Up (which apparently is also a nice Australian wine according to Jess). So, the game. Think of the stock market with everyone running around waving pieces of paper, someone yelling 'Sell! Sell! Sell!' and someone else yelling 'Buy! Buy! Buy!' and when they find that they find each other they trade. Well, this is similar, except everyone has been drinking, and instead of yelling 'buy' and 'sell' people are yelling 'heads' and 'tails' along with how much money they want to bet. If someone is yelling '$20 on head' they will find in the crowd someone else who is yelling '$20 on tails'. At this point the person who is betting tails will hold on to the money until the results are in.

This yelling goes on in one room, there are three tables set up to form a square that is open on one side, this is where the officials are and where the coins will be thrown. Once most of the bets have been made people start yelling 'Hit 'em up' (refering to the coins). A person enters the middle of the square with a flat stick that has 3 coins on it, this person then uses the stick to throw the 3 coins up in the air above their head. Since there are 3 coins there will always be a definitive winner, either heads or tails, and then the winner gets the money....and that's it.

It's such a simple game but people get right into and get very excited. You're only allowed to play on ANZAC Day so people take full advantage, I've even bet a bit myself. I came out even so I feel I did pretty well, Kate won about $100 so we started to just bet with her since she seemed to be on a streak. I don't think it's something you can really understand until you've done it because I know I was quite skeptical before I tried but it was a blast.

Besides ANZAC Day we haven't had anything exciting going on. We're moving out of our townhouse this weekend to live with Andrew's parents for a week before we can move into our house. Last night we had our first work social event that I organised with the help of Sam, one of the guys at work. We all met at a local bowling alley and played a few games while eating burgers and having some beer. Afterwords some of us went to this great ice cream shop for dessert, it was a lot of fun and I think everyone had a really good time.....and that is all for now so I'm off to do more work, oh, except for...we got a puppy :)

We haven't picked him up yet but we get him tomorrow afternoon. He's so cute and tiny. His name is Coopa (that's how Andrew spells it and pronounces it although I say Cooper and it sounds the same). He is almost 8 weeks old, a mix better kelpie, bull arab, pit bull and white pointer, two from his mom and two from his dad I just don't know which two go to which parent. I'll be sure to post pictures of him as soon as we pick him up because I want everyone to see how absolutely adorable my puppy is.

Oh, and, I have a photograph on this magazine's website, they are an academic art magazine that I'm actually trying to get an article published in. Here's the link: Afterimage
Mine is on the first page, bottom row, second from the right. Enjoy!

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.