New Year

Now that Christmas and New Years is over and done with hopefully things can get back to some semblance of order and routine.
Not that I didn't have a good time during Christmas or anything but working two (retail) jobs sort of sucked all the fun out of it. I was looking forward to and dreading Christmas. On one hand it was going to be my first day off in a month (and it was CHRISTMAS) and on the other it meant the next day was Boxing Day which is pretty much the most dreaded day if you work in retail.

Anyway, we had a good day even though we were dead tired by the end of it. One of the highlights (comedy wise) was throwing Glen's 13 year old nephew into the pool because he was being cheeky and didn't think we'd actually do it haha

On the 27th we went to the MCG to watch day 2 of the Ashes in Melbourne (The Ashes is a cricket game between Australia and England). Australia did pretty bad but it was still fun - and it was my first time going to the cricket.

We had a pretty low-key New Years. We went to a BBQ at one of Glen's co-worker's and then came home around 11:30 and watched the fireworks on TV then went to bed. I know the whole point of going somewhere on New Years is to actually still be out at midnight but they were all driving 45 minutes down the road to the beach and we didn't want to be out driving that late.
It was also incredibly hot yesterday (+41) so that pretty much sucked the life out of me and I was asleep right after the fireworks finished.

It was pretty warm again today so we decided to take a drive down to the beach where it was MUCH cooler than it was in the city. We still managed to take a dip in the water though! (I told Glen we need to make 2011 the year of getting to the beach!).

Lets hope we all have a great 2011!!

Temperature: +16C
Sunrise: 6:01am
Sunset: 8:45pm

Soggy Spring

We have a had a cold and wet spring. Everyone has been complaining - especially about how cold it is. I just kind of shrugged because I remember when I first came last year I was SO cold in the house and it took me a while to adjust to the cooler temperatures coming from summer in Canada (and in Montreal no less).

Well, I may be converted to thinking that we actually are suffering with colder weather. I just went to look at some pictures from this time last year - and posts so I try to repeat myself as little as possible (since I was thinking about talking about the Melbourne Cup) and this time last year we were at Wilsons Prom soaking up the sun on the beach.

The plus side to all this cool wet weather is that our dams are at 50% which is a first in many years (I've read varying reports from first since 2006 to first in 30 years... Either way it's a big deal).

Anyway, the first Tuesday in November is Melbourne Cup day - the major race in a spring horse racing carnival. It's the race that "stops the nation" and everyone at 3:10pm stops to see who wins. We thankfully had the day off though we were surprised at the amount of stores that actually opened.
Glen and I put a small bet on a horse each and spent the day at his sister's house with the rest of the family. We all picked two horses out of a hat and put $1 in just as fun (convenient in a family of 12 to have 24 horses running).
If you don't go to the actual races, having a BBQ and having family over is a pretty typical way to celebrate.

I spent the day yesterday getting the spare room into better shape. We inherited a great old (large) shelf from Glen's grandpa so I wanted to start unpacking some boxes to get the room in working order and then I'll be able to suss out what other furniture I'll need for in there (looks like a few short bookcases like we have in the living room and a table as well as storage bins).
Here's a picture of the shelf with tonnes of stuff piled on it (it's a great shelf made of real wood - it's solid and heavy - a real quality piece of furniture - there's two doors on the bottom that open up to small shelves).

I managed to empty 7 boxes yesterday (or condense a few anyway). I think I have around 10 more to empty before we're completely box free.



Temperature: +21C
Sunrise: 6:07am
Sunset: 8:01pm

There's No Place Like Home

Just popping in to say hi. Things have been great here so far and I have just under a week left. My brother did some magic on his router and my wireless works great here (WAY better than at home actually!). We've been fairly busy most days, the first week I was here was spent helping my sister-in-law (!) sort out all the final details for the wedding. She had things mostly under control so we didn't really need to do much. We folded and filled favour boxes though.

We also took a few runs to the next town over to do some last minute shopping and after all the agonizing over finding a dress, they found me a really cute one. I had actually bought a dress before I left but mum wanted me to get a new one (?) so she bought me one. I wasn't sure about it at first but everyone loved it so I must have bad taste or something haha

(Me with my little (!) brother taken by my mum)

The wedding was beautiful. The ceremony was outside at SIL's grandma's and then the reception was at the local yacht club (Yacht Club sounds posh... It was like a nice community hall near the water with boats. "Yacht Club" makes it sounds like it was a big bucks kind of place. Their whole wedding was outrageously affordable and I'm really proud of them for doing it so cheaply. They actually refused to do things like hire a limo because they couldn't justify the cost for the hour or so they needed it. They were perfectly happy to borrow one of the shiny rental cars family had). It was great that a lot of our out-of-town family came and we got to spent time with a lot of them outside the wedding. We have another family wedding this coming weekend so we'll see even more family (this is a very convenient way to get all the visiting out of the way!).

I got to play photographer for part of the day and that was a lot of fun. The photographer that was hired didn't have an assistant so I offered to take the shots of the guys getting ready since the paid for photographer was out getting SIL getting ready shots (and we were over here where the boys were getting ready anyway).
I'm ridiculously proud of a few shots I got and I'd say they're quality enough to fit right in with the rest of the shots from the day (or at least I'm hoping the paid for photographer got some great shots!). I got an incredible shot of my brother's best man (this guy was his best friend growing up and practically like a brother - he calls our mum, mum - and he just happens to be SIL's cousin! SIL didn't know him growing up and it was only about 6-7 years ago they found each other online and have reconnected). Anyway, I might have to post that another day, but it's been getting a lot of attention of facebook.

I've also been trying to get my fill of Canadian things before I go home. I've been really shocked at how easy being back is. The whole driving on the right side of the road thing, going back to having pennies and quarters, French on all the packaging etc. I was expecting to have a bit of culture shock coming back but there hasn't been any. I'm not sure whether I should be happy or sad about this (does it mean I still haven't fully assimilated into Aussie life?). I've done a little bit of driving and besides having to ask if I'm on the proper side of the road and accidentally going for the turn signal on the wrong side of the steering wheel a few times, driving has been remarkably easy and stress-free. Not something I can say for driving down under.
I've had my fill of kraft dinner and a few pizza pops, I've been sampling some of the chocolate bars I left behind and I'm making a list of what I want to take back or more appropriately a list of things that people can send me if they're feeling generous enough to send a care package. My king sized pillows and wide-mouth thermos have been bought. I've been to Canadian tire a few times and I've set foot in the major big box store more than once.
I'm also enjoying being able to wander around this great little town that my brother and SIL call home. It may be full (and I mean FULL) of tourists in the summer but they have so many great little shops, I'm kind of jealous since they only have to walk up and down a few blocks to visit these great stores instead of having them spread across a massive city.

This has turned into a rather long "just popping in" post but I wanted to fill everyone in on how things are going. We're really having a great time and this is the first time it's felt like summer in a LONG time (y'know those lazy summer days during school holidays, the air had a specific smell and feel to it, didn't have any agenda and just did whatever was happening... My favourite time of year).



Temperature: +22C (feels like +29C)
Sunrise: 6:18am
Sunset: 8:08pm

Yes, I Am a Procrastinator!

"All I have to do is find the disc with photoshop on it..." famous last words.
Um, hi! It's been a while!

Apparently digging through one box and searching through 3 discs of files is too much effort. hah. It took all of about 10 minutes. I've been putting it off and putting it off because it's the season of procrastination! I've been procrastinating about everything lately - like getting my Christmas cards and packages sent, finishing sewing Christmas presents etc. It was particularly bad this year (maybe because it's not -40 and dark?) and I had to force myself to do things that I normally don't mind doing. I hate when I do stuff like that because then I have to rush and get stuff done. It's also bad if you're living with other people and they're constantly asking you how x project or y project is going while you're sitting in front of a movie or taking another nap. Whoops. Planning for Christmas '10 starts now!! ('10 doesn't have the same nice ring to it that '09 [etc] does hmmm...)


So to update...

Paul Dempsey being awesome.

We went back into the city and saw the Myer windows for a second time (I went with Glen's mum, sister and the kids), we drove to Castlemaine to see Paul Dempsey do a solo show (it was AWESOME. I didn't think it was possible to love SFK/Paul Dempsey more than I did and I so do. Can't get enough!), and then had all sorts of family get-togethers for Christmas.

Very strange to be up on Christmas morning when it's light out! These were taken just after 8am.

Speaking of Christmas and get-togethers... It's weird for me to now be a part of a family that has both sides living within driving distance. This seems to be pretty common and makes things like Christmas a logistical nightmare for some families. Thankfully Glen's dad's side does a Christmas thing the week before otherwise I don't know what we'd do! Most people split the day between at least two sides (blended families makes things even more interesting), having breakfast/lunch with one side and then dinner with the other. We actually did meals at 3 different places this year (breakfast at Glen's sister's, lunch here then dinner with Glen's mum's family). Does anyone else do this or do you stick to one side per day? Growing up we went to my Grandma's house on Christmas Day (a few times on Boxing Day) and that was the extent of it.
The traditional turkey dinner is also out here. Dinner was cold meats, seafood and salads. No potatoes, stuffing or steamed veggies in sight! (Truthfully, I'm a bit sad. I love mashed potatoes and stuffing).

Glen looking thrilled to be up so early!

With Christmas came a flurry of sewing and I managed to finish the three quilts that have been hanging over my head for MONTHS. I was awesome and didn't take pictures of two of them and took a very bad, quickly posed picture of the third. I'll try to get over to Glen's sister's and take proper pictures of them on the kid's beds.

Quilt #3 with it's recipient.

We'll be house sitting for Glen's sister for all of January and then after that we'll hopefully be finding our own place. I'm looking forward to unpacking!!


Temperature: +19C
Sunrise: 5:57am
Sunset: 8:44pm