In America, only the successful writer is important, in France all writers are important, in England no writer is important, and in Australia you have to explain what a writer is

A busy busy weekend for Andrew and I this past week. Friday night I met my friend Sara and her friend at our local cinema to see the new Twilight movie, yes, I admit to being a fan, of the books at least, the movies are kind of average (sorry Laura). But it was not too bad, better than the second movie and it was nice to go out with the girls for a bit.

Saturday my friend Shelley Ray came over and we took some photographs in my studio and then headed down to Pine Island, the local park where Andrew and I go swimming during the summer. I got some great photos that can be seen on my photoblog here.

Later that night Andrew and I drove over the Shelley Ray’s house in Gungahlin, which I didn’t realize is practically on the other side of the country. It wasn’t that bad but we did have to drive past the airport to get there and through the countryside, at one point we were worried we were heading towards Sydney by accident because that far out my GPS went a bit crazy.

Shelley Ray lives in this amazing two storey townhouse with her partner Alex. The place was so unbelievable, they are the first owners having bought off the plan and it worked really well for them. They have a huge alfresco dining area off the big living room, and a smaller (not by much) family room and meals area with their kitchen and a back deck. Pretty much their entire downstairs is split into two rooms running the length of the house. Than 3 bedrooms upstairs, another tv/computer area, balcony, a very large walk-in closet in the master bedroom plus an ensuite....and you can tell I’ve been in real estate too long when I give that much of a description of my friends house.

Alex made sheppard’s pie for dinner, he put them in individual ramekin dishes which made them look very fancy and they tasty delicious. After dinner we sunk into the giant couches in the lounge room and chat for a bit before digging into the mouse Shelley Ray had made, another delicious dish. Andrew and I are going to need to step things up a notch to try and keep up with this kind of cooking. It was a really nice night, and not just because this means I officially have multiple friends (which I’m so excited about) and we’re already planning our next outing.

Sunday we headed up to Bruce (north side of Canberra) to go to the Sunday afternoon Raiders game with Andy and Aaron. The Raiders were playing Newcastle which Andy is a fan of, she even had her son Jayden dressed in a Newcastle Knights hat and scarf, but he’s a smart boy and clapped when the Raiders scored. We all had to give Andy a bit of a hard time as half time ended with the score Raider-40, Newcastle-0 with the final score ending Raiders-52, Newcastle-18. It was great to be able to cheer the Raiders on to such a win.

After the game we drove over to my friend Scott’s house so that I could take some photographs of his dog Jasmine, it is part of my new side business photographing pets and doing a bit of family portraiture. It is pretty fun and there aren’t really many people in Canberra who do pet photography so I should do pretty well. Those photos can also be seen on my photoblog.

Finally we headed home to enjoy the nice warm dinner I had put in the crockpot before we left that morning and relax watching The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas, really good and pretty sad.

I’d say it’s been a normal week but that’d be a lie. Tuesday night we went over to Bonnie and Damon’s house for dinner and to hang out, Damon made a nice hot curry. I really enjoy being fed by other people.

Last night Andrew and I went out to this funky little bar in the city called Phoenix Bar so that he could jam with Anthony, his friend his been playing with the past few months. They were the second act on and did a really good job, not to be biased but they really were the best ones of the night and got lots of cheers. We hung around with Andrew’s friend Bobby for a few drinks before remember we all had work in the morning and dragging ourselves home.

Today is proving that architecture classes at Philly U at least prepared me for something, getting by on little sleep, and I’ve made a strong recovery for the day although I predict I will fade quickly through the afternoon. Luckily I’m leaving work early today to head down to the mountains with Andrew and Will so we can go skiing on Saturday, which is what we shall talk about next week :)

Cupcake Day

I will write a longer blog tonight about the chaos that was this past weekend, but right now I just wanted to give everyone this link. It's for the RSPCA's Cupcake Day that I got my office to participate in. If you can donate, or if you're in Canberra come by on August 16th for a Cupcake it would really mean a lot.
http://www.fundraise.rspcacupcakeday.com.au/ray_white_belconnen

Canberra: The Muscial

I just had to share this with you all, just found this video about Canberra that I had to share with everyone back home, it's from a sketch comedy show and it's called Canberra: The Musical. Enjoy!

4th of July Aussie Style

It's been a bit busy these past two weeks, we had our fence put in, worked on our lawn, got a skip to trash as much stuff as possible and just cleaned for two days.

This past weekend though was the main event, what we've been waiting for and leading up to for weeks now, our housewarming 4th of July party. The actual cooking started on Friday with my full size watermelon which I cut a hole in and added some vodka to flavor.


Our fridge was looking quite nice with the vodka watermelon and meat taking up our bottom shelf.

I even attempted a flag cake for the occasion.


I did a bit of decorating for the party while Coopa enjoyed the sun waiting for people to arrive.



The lovely watermelon all set to eat. So Andrew's Aunt Karen showed up and gave me a lovely surprise, an American flag she has had for about 30 years, she couldn't disclose where it came from, she could only tell us is that she did not steal it. It's a real, cloth flag and pretty nice so we're hoping the embassy isn't on the lookout.


Bobby came prepared in his Red Sox's jersey so I had to lend him my stubbie holder to complete the outfit.

Claire and I
The day progressed from ping-pong to beer pong by the end of the night, it seemed like a pretty good idea except that our ceiling is low and people have a habit of jumping when they get a ball in the cup, the above was taken after his second hit on the head, he just doesn't learn.



So that was our 4th of July party one day early. We had about 20 people over, cooked a bunch of meat and ate lots of food. It was a great time, even our neighbors came by to say hi and give us a bottle of wine.

Sunday was a relaxing day after that to get us ready for this next busy week ahead of us. So more to come as soon as I wake up.