Chaos reigns supreme

Life has been a bit chaotic recently for Andrew and I, although there hasn't really been much going on. I found out not too long ago that the 6 months I am allowed per company is drawing near for Ray White. Ben and I tried to see if there were any solutions, he even had me call and immigration lawyer, but there is no way for me to stay with the company without risking my future visa. So I've been applying for jobs like crazy but there isn't too much out there. Most employers have put a freeze on hiring since the election was announced last month, and now that the election is over but there still isn't a prime minister no one is going forward with jobs yet. I'm still pretty confident though that I'll find something soon.

To break the boredom of work Andrew and I are hopping in a car tomorrow morning with Andrews parents to drive down to Sydney. We're going to spend the day running around the city and sleep there for the night before catching a train to the airport in the morning and flying off to...Fiji!

That's right, Andrew and I are going to Fiji! We're going for 5 nights staying at Mango Bay where we're going to swim, lay on the beach, hike around a bit. It's going to be absolutely amazing and you'll see and hear all about it next weekend when we get back. Until then be jealous :)

The Snowy Mountains (Australian Alps) receive more snow than Switzerland (maybe not this year though)

No excuses, I'm just behind.

Last weekend Andrew, Will and I left work early to drop Coopa off with Luigi (Will's dog) to be watched by Pip (Will's wife) for the weekend. The two started playing as soon as we got in the door and didn't stop the entire weekend, Pip went to check on them at midnight on the first night before she went to bed thinking they'd be asleep but they were instead running around the backyard.

After dropping off Coopa the three of us drove down to the mountains to stay at Andrew's parents place in Jindabyne for the weekend. We got up early Saturday morning and had a big breakfast for energy before driving to the ski slopes. We spent the day skiing at one of the mountains in Thredbo called Perisher. The setting was really cool because you could see bushland and then just snow all of a sudden.

Andrew wore bib drawers, and we laughed

Will wore a helmet, and we laughed

Andrew found a great poster while we were waiting for the train

The mountain had some really good runs but by the end of the day my socks were digging into my feet and I was exhausted. We ordered some pizza and tried to see how long we could stay awake before crashing out around 10.

Sunday was a quick pack up then the drive home. Coopa looked as tired as us when we picked him up which makes me think they actually didn't stop playing the whole time we were gone. The three of us barely managed to stay awake to watch a movie Sunday night before all crashing out.

Last Wednesday I met Andy for dinner over in Woden and then we went to the local Southern Cross Club to see Thirsty Merc play. They looked like Nirvana (the bassist even had the Kurt Cobain hair cut) but danced like the Rolling Stones, there were a few times I even thought the singer was going to do the Mike Jagger walk. They sounded as good live as they do on their cd and Andy and I jammed out the whole time just feet from the stage. It was a great small venue that gave a great feel and view for everyone. And the opening band was great too, a group called Porcelain.

Thursday was Winter White Out for Ray White, my company. Between our office and three others we auction off 25 properties in one night. It was a massive event that we have been marketing and preparing for since before the beginning of July. The night went pretty well, fairly busy, with 11 properties being sold on the night and 4-5 more sold prior to auction. It's nice to have this finally behind us because hopefully that means the office will slow down a little bit so we can all rest and catch up with the other properties.

Friday I got to leave work early since I work late at the auction and relaxed at home with Coopa for a bit before dressing to meet Andrew in the city for dinner. He surprised me with a very nice steak dinner at Kingsleys Steakhouse a meal my father, a lover of steak, would have greatly enjoyed. From there Andrew took me down to the Convention Centre where he had gotten us tickets to Bill Bailey, who I have been listening to since I first lived in London back in '05. It was great to finally see him live and such an amazing surprise for Andrew to spoil me like this, I could completely get use to this.

Saturday we did a massive clean of the house along with many loads of laundry and grocery shopping to round out our required activities for the weekend. After taking Coopa to the dog park, I tried my hand at Gail Tuscany's pumpkin curry soup, and if you've never tried this get to Harvest Market and give it a go. I think I did a pretty good job and Andrew and I have already finished off the pot of it I made.

Sunday I got up early to see the Belconnen Sunday Market before going to Andy's where I was promptly served pancakes before taking a few photos of Jayden (soon to be on my photoblog). I then went home to hid from the rain and enjoy the rest of the weekend with Andrew and Coopa. Hopefully this week and weekend will be slow, it'll never happen but we're going to give it a try.

Awesome salmon dinner Andrew made compared

 

to the picture of said salmon from the recipe book ( can you tell I don't know how to work this new version of blogger)

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.

Roasting my Sunday Away

Saturday morning I was picked up early by my friend Cath Cool to go meet a group of ASADA girls at this great place called Tilly's for breakfast. They also do dinner and have live music which I'll probably bring Mom & Dad to while they're here, it just has a very jazz, 1920s kind of feel to it. There was a group of 6 of us and it didn't take long for us to tuck in to our breakfast.

Mmmmh pancakes

We had to get some fuel so we could hit the op-shops (thrift stores) in northern Canberra. We hit up 4 different shops and found some great bargains, my friend Dee even found me this beautiful pair of cowboy boots, they're perfectly broken in. After many hours shopping I finally made it home to Andrew.

That night after a nice dinner Andrew took me out to see Prince of Persia. I liked it and hated it at the same time. It's a good story but it was so Hollywood, I'll see the next one but I don't know if it'll be in the theater. We did get to see a great preview for the new Leonardo Dicaprio movie that looks so good, I can general drag Andrew to those movies so hopefully we'll get to go see that one.

Sunday I ended up spending most of the day in the kitchen cooking. I made some cupcakes so that I could practice frosting, not so good yet but slowly getting better.


I decided to try my hand at making a proper Sunday Roast, luckily Mom & Dad had given Andrew an electronic thermometer for his birthday so I used that to cook the roast perfectly, I even made Yorkshire pudding from scratch, they turned out amazingly and dinner was a triumphant success, yay.

The meat starting to cook in the Dutch Oven

My Yorkshire puddings

Pile of meat, the Walkers prefer their meat medium so I had to sacrifice the meat and cook it longer then it needed, next time I'll make them have it cooked properly

The whole spread on the table, I cooked roast vegetables to go with it all (potatoes, carrots
and my new favorite pumpkin)

Judy wanted me to show everyone my lovely gravy boat

Our fence is coming along slowly, I took this picture early in the morning to show how it looks now that we have no fence along our deck edge....not that you can really tell since it's so dark, better pictures this weekend for sure once the fence is done.

And to finish it off my moment of zen, my little boy sleeping with one of his favorite toys, his Carly.