I'm back in "the bah" as they say. heh. And I miss my family. :( ::sigh:: An extreme extrovert like myself really wasn't designed to sit alone in the house day-in and day-out though so I'm sure that's adding some insult to injury. I've just realized that all my teacher friends, if they've stayed in town, are off for school holidays though so hopefully I can catch up with some of them. I have made some plans to catch up with a couple friends throughout the week now so the rest of the week should be better than today.
I'm officially unpacked! This is actually a first for me. For example, I didn't fully unpack from my December trip to Texas until I started packing for the June trip. That's just me....sloppy sloppy. Anyways. I decided if I didn't do it today, I never would so I've unpacked and put everything in drawers and the dirty stuff into the laundry basket and feel a slight sense of accomplishment. Ta da! I cleaned something!
The next step is to tackle the mountain of laundry we've accumulated. Somewhat annoyingly, Chris refuses to launder any of my clothing for fear of ruining something. I've tried to explain that every garment has a care tag and you just have to read it to know how to wash it...to no avail. Hopefully we'll overcome this in the near future because it's just silly to wash our clothes separately, but until then I do pretty much all the laundry and Chris just washes his work clothes every week. If you know me very well you know that this means that the laundry doesn't get done very often..... (please don't give me the "little here and there" lecture. I understand the logisitics, I just choose not to partake. ;) ) This leads to a MOUNTAIN of laundry whereby I end up washing just about every item of clothing we own (out of necessity, as we've run out of clean clothes.) Regardless of desperation, I continue to put off the mountain because, well, it's a mountain. And it's daunting. And smelly. And we don't have a dryer. So I have to hang up every single piddly sock and undergarment BY HAND. And hope it doesn't rain. Or that a bird won't shit on my favorite jeans. Ugh. Okay, I know, now I'm just complaining. Anyways....laundry is on the to do.
Also, the house is in a fairly scary level of disarray. I found a bowl of tapenade hiding under some old mail on the table that has definitely been sitting there for about a month. P.S. we also don't have a dishwasher. UGH. We're officially disgusting. So I have to clean the house this week too. I'm not interested, can't be bothered, but officially have to force myself because it's that gross. I don't think Chris has touched the toilet brush since I left either....oh boy.
So. How was my trip? Great! I did lots of catching up, drank lots of beer, ate Mexican food and drank iced tea almost every day, laughed more than should be allowed and did heaps of shopping on the side. It was the stuff dreams are made of! I wasn't ready to come home yet, but all good things must come to an end. Plus I missed our little bubble here in Moranbah with my beebs and my kittens. :)
The highlight of the trip was probably just a blip on the radar for everyone else, but it was just so easy that it made it special. I spent the whole day drinking my favorite beer by the pool with Laura who got inexplicably drunk after 2 beers and sun-burnt to an amusing degree, then we went to pint-night at The Flying Saucer where we drank even MORE good beer and had lots of laughs and all my favorite people were there and then Kara and I went to Braums, home of the best peanut brittle ever, and then met Kaitlyn and Kara's friends at Froggies where we monopolized the juke box and plunged even further into the beer fest. We ended the night with a song and dance at Red Goose with some dirty martinis and I tearfully showed pictures of my cats to everyone in the bar and then called it a night. An unassuming evening with good friends and good drinks but still, lands in my top 10 best days ever. :)
I could write forever, but I'll come back and say more later so you don't get too bored. ;)
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
In Texas!
I made it in alive. :)
I LOVE an uneventful trip and this was the most uneventful trip ever. Not even a hiccup. On my flight from BNE to LAX I was only awake for the first 4 hours which honestly flies by because they feed you dinner and give you snacks and coffee and bottomless alcohol and you always find some new release movie to watch on the in-flight On Demand system...but at about the 3.5 hr mark I took a Doxylamine and conked out for a good 8 hrs. It wasn't a wakeless sleep, I'm not superhuman, but I had no trouble just conking out again for another 90 minutes if I felt it was too early. I remember waking up at the 6 hour mark and thinking "REALLY?!?! Barely halfway?? How is this possible?" So I just woke at about 90 minute intervals until I felt like I could entertain myself for the rest of the flight. I also slept all the way from LAX to DFW with no problems so it really was the most perfect trip. Not even a screaming baby to speak of. :):):)
I had the ceremonious Chipotle trip within an hour of arriving and then conked out AGAIN after a very brave effort to stay up until 11! The next day I went shopping with mom and we had a bbq that night where Amelia came over and gave me a much needed dose of BFF lovin. Yesterday I went to church with Kara, visited Grandma and Grandad, got a bra fitting at VS and found out I'm 2 sizes bigger than I thought (yay!) to end the night meeting Kara's new love interest and good friend Cara over an authentic Italian pizza Kara's L.I. made (YUM!) and a glass of wine. It's been the best weekend I've had in AGES.
I've lived in Oz long enough to be able to make a few distinct cultural judgements at this point, the most obvious of which is just how Self Important everyone is over here. It's disgusting and infuriating! I think this ties back to my previous comments on the overall passive demeanor of Australians as a whole, and so maybe that's rubbed off on me and you should correct me if I'm wrong here...but doesn't every American's "EXCUSE ME" sound an awful lot more like "How DARE you delay me those 5 seconds you chose to stand in front of me, if you would PLEASE get OUT OF MY WAY I'm very important and very busy and nothing you could be doing is possibly more important than me and my life." Because that's what it sounds like to me. Also, the road agression is just disgusting. CALM DOWN PEOPLE. Good for you, you just shaved 5 minutes off your commute by going 15 over the speed limit.
That said, the sales people in the stores here always manage to leave all their self-importance at the door and become almost like wag-tailed puppies eager to help at every step of your browsing journey which is about the opposite of the self-important shop keepers in Mackay....
I hate the heat, I'm melting all the time, but I love the company and am having a great time. :)
I LOVE an uneventful trip and this was the most uneventful trip ever. Not even a hiccup. On my flight from BNE to LAX I was only awake for the first 4 hours which honestly flies by because they feed you dinner and give you snacks and coffee and bottomless alcohol and you always find some new release movie to watch on the in-flight On Demand system...but at about the 3.5 hr mark I took a Doxylamine and conked out for a good 8 hrs. It wasn't a wakeless sleep, I'm not superhuman, but I had no trouble just conking out again for another 90 minutes if I felt it was too early. I remember waking up at the 6 hour mark and thinking "REALLY?!?! Barely halfway?? How is this possible?" So I just woke at about 90 minute intervals until I felt like I could entertain myself for the rest of the flight. I also slept all the way from LAX to DFW with no problems so it really was the most perfect trip. Not even a screaming baby to speak of. :):):)
I had the ceremonious Chipotle trip within an hour of arriving and then conked out AGAIN after a very brave effort to stay up until 11! The next day I went shopping with mom and we had a bbq that night where Amelia came over and gave me a much needed dose of BFF lovin. Yesterday I went to church with Kara, visited Grandma and Grandad, got a bra fitting at VS and found out I'm 2 sizes bigger than I thought (yay!) to end the night meeting Kara's new love interest and good friend Cara over an authentic Italian pizza Kara's L.I. made (YUM!) and a glass of wine. It's been the best weekend I've had in AGES.
I've lived in Oz long enough to be able to make a few distinct cultural judgements at this point, the most obvious of which is just how Self Important everyone is over here. It's disgusting and infuriating! I think this ties back to my previous comments on the overall passive demeanor of Australians as a whole, and so maybe that's rubbed off on me and you should correct me if I'm wrong here...but doesn't every American's "EXCUSE ME" sound an awful lot more like "How DARE you delay me those 5 seconds you chose to stand in front of me, if you would PLEASE get OUT OF MY WAY I'm very important and very busy and nothing you could be doing is possibly more important than me and my life." Because that's what it sounds like to me. Also, the road agression is just disgusting. CALM DOWN PEOPLE. Good for you, you just shaved 5 minutes off your commute by going 15 over the speed limit.
That said, the sales people in the stores here always manage to leave all their self-importance at the door and become almost like wag-tailed puppies eager to help at every step of your browsing journey which is about the opposite of the self-important shop keepers in Mackay....
I hate the heat, I'm melting all the time, but I love the company and am having a great time. :)
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Gladiator shoes
I want some Gladiator sandals!
One of the annoying things about wearing a size 12 is that it takes a couple years for the latest trends to become available in a size 12. Lucky for me, this is the first season that LOTS of gladiator sandals are in my size! (this probably means they will go out of style next year, but what can I do...)
Here's some of my faves that come in a 12:
19.99 @ Torrid
19.99 @ Torrid
19.99 @ Avenue
$129.00 Sam Edelman
Of course I love the Sam Edelman shoes most because they're, oh, you know, only SIX TIMES more expensive than the others.
One of the annoying things about wearing a size 12 is that it takes a couple years for the latest trends to become available in a size 12. Lucky for me, this is the first season that LOTS of gladiator sandals are in my size! (this probably means they will go out of style next year, but what can I do...)
Here's some of my faves that come in a 12:
19.99 @ Torrid
19.99 @ Torrid
19.99 @ Avenue
$129.00 Sam Edelman
Of course I love the Sam Edelman shoes most because they're, oh, you know, only SIX TIMES more expensive than the others.
Some kinda zombie
I can't sleep. Bleh. It's almost 6am!
I'm leaving for Mackay tomorrow night so that leaves me 1.5 days to pack and tidy up so Chris isn't left with all the cleaning for our inspection in two weeks. This will be the first inspection where I'm not home and, since we only have one "outdoor only" cat on paper, finding somewhere for the kitties while Chris is at work could prove difficult. I don't know why, but they ALWAYS do inspections on a Tuesday. It'd be convenient if they would schedule them for a Monday so Chris could be there....and hide the kitties someplace. lol
In true Me fashion, I will probably not pack til tomorrow...but maybe I will today. I have so much to procrastinate for. lol For instance we don't have many clean dishes...so I have to do those too. A mountain of them. I did make a list of everything I need to pack though, so that should make it easy enough. Since it's only 3 weeks I'm not bringing much. I've decided on 4 outfits 3 pairs of shoes (flats, sandals and running shoes) 2 sets of pjs and then my various toiletries. It doesn't sound like much, but I ALWAYS over-pack and ALWAYS end up leaving with more than I came with. So, the emptier the suitcase is on the way in the better it will be on the way out. I've had to buy another suitcase to fit all my crap in the last two visits and I'm determined not to do that again!
As far as my plans go for my visit are concerned, I don't really have any. I'm seeing Mumford and Son next Thursday and mom's going to Houston on business the 15-18 so I thought it'd be fun to go down with her on that, but other than that I plan on just hanging out and catching up with friends. The last time I visited home I wasn't really happy with my life here in m'bah yet; I couldn't drive and hadn't made many friends which made for an all around boring existance. Since I've been driving and going out on the weekends I've felt so much more relaxed and happy. And even now that we have Petra, it's so much fun to play with her and watch her and Bean do somersalts across the house. I think that this will keep me from feeling like I have to "live it up," so to speak, like my last visit to DFW because I already feel fairly content with everything I have and the way things are. I'll want to cook and eat a lot of Mexican while I can, lol that's definitely not going to change...but I don't plan on going out every night or going to a different restaurant for every meal or going shopping every day. Number one: we really can't afford it. Number two: I really can't afford to gain another 10 lbs. Number three: I don't feel that desire to. I'm content. :)
Don't get me wrong, I do want to do *some* shopping. ;) I really want to check out Torrid in person and try on the shoes in my size and their clothes so I can figure out how everything fits for future reference and orders and what not. I'm also trying to combat all the excuses I make for not working out and one of the big ones is that I don't have any workout clothes that fit (truly, the last time I really bought athleticwear was in 2003 for marching band) so I plan on going to Old Navy and buying enough outfits in the right colors that I can have an outfit to wear every day and only wash all of our workout stuff once a week. I know ON has men's athletic shorts, nice ones, for only $5 so I'll just wear those and get some t shirts too. It doesn't have to be cute, just functional!
I've still got my food list of things I have to eat:
#1 is a Chipotle burrito. Always my first meal off the plane and I don't plan on that changing! I seriously crave this at least 4 or 5 times a week. No surprise since I eat it at least once a week when I'm home...hopefully it's not a daily thing though because those buggers are like 1500 calories. lol
#2 is a regular Whatburger with cheese and jalapenos! Gahhh they just don't make burgers the way I like 'em here and my mouth is watering for it!
#3 is McDonalds breakfast burritos. I want to eat ten of them.
#4 is STARBUCKS!! I always get this in the airport, but I have to put it down anyway.
#5 is a slice of New York style pepperoni pizza. mmmm
That's all this time! Are you proud? Last time the list was like 50 things. I think I'm officially acclimating. :) I've learned to cook a lot of the things I used to miss and can finally make a really mean margarita on my own so that's probably helped. The things on that list (well, maybe Starbucks) I will never be able to replicate though so I still crave them all the time.
More than the shopping and the food I am looking forward to spending time with my family! I was talking to mom and dad earlier and I'm going to try and cook for everyone as much as I can so we can sit down and have family meals instead of going out all the time. Should be nice. :)
I'm just pondering things...I don't really have anything to talk about other than that stuff so I'll go try and sleep now.
I'm leaving for Mackay tomorrow night so that leaves me 1.5 days to pack and tidy up so Chris isn't left with all the cleaning for our inspection in two weeks. This will be the first inspection where I'm not home and, since we only have one "outdoor only" cat on paper, finding somewhere for the kitties while Chris is at work could prove difficult. I don't know why, but they ALWAYS do inspections on a Tuesday. It'd be convenient if they would schedule them for a Monday so Chris could be there....and hide the kitties someplace. lol
In true Me fashion, I will probably not pack til tomorrow...but maybe I will today. I have so much to procrastinate for. lol For instance we don't have many clean dishes...so I have to do those too. A mountain of them. I did make a list of everything I need to pack though, so that should make it easy enough. Since it's only 3 weeks I'm not bringing much. I've decided on 4 outfits 3 pairs of shoes (flats, sandals and running shoes) 2 sets of pjs and then my various toiletries. It doesn't sound like much, but I ALWAYS over-pack and ALWAYS end up leaving with more than I came with. So, the emptier the suitcase is on the way in the better it will be on the way out. I've had to buy another suitcase to fit all my crap in the last two visits and I'm determined not to do that again!
As far as my plans go for my visit are concerned, I don't really have any. I'm seeing Mumford and Son next Thursday and mom's going to Houston on business the 15-18 so I thought it'd be fun to go down with her on that, but other than that I plan on just hanging out and catching up with friends. The last time I visited home I wasn't really happy with my life here in m'bah yet; I couldn't drive and hadn't made many friends which made for an all around boring existance. Since I've been driving and going out on the weekends I've felt so much more relaxed and happy. And even now that we have Petra, it's so much fun to play with her and watch her and Bean do somersalts across the house. I think that this will keep me from feeling like I have to "live it up," so to speak, like my last visit to DFW because I already feel fairly content with everything I have and the way things are. I'll want to cook and eat a lot of Mexican while I can, lol that's definitely not going to change...but I don't plan on going out every night or going to a different restaurant for every meal or going shopping every day. Number one: we really can't afford it. Number two: I really can't afford to gain another 10 lbs. Number three: I don't feel that desire to. I'm content. :)
Don't get me wrong, I do want to do *some* shopping. ;) I really want to check out Torrid in person and try on the shoes in my size and their clothes so I can figure out how everything fits for future reference and orders and what not. I'm also trying to combat all the excuses I make for not working out and one of the big ones is that I don't have any workout clothes that fit (truly, the last time I really bought athleticwear was in 2003 for marching band) so I plan on going to Old Navy and buying enough outfits in the right colors that I can have an outfit to wear every day and only wash all of our workout stuff once a week. I know ON has men's athletic shorts, nice ones, for only $5 so I'll just wear those and get some t shirts too. It doesn't have to be cute, just functional!
I've still got my food list of things I have to eat:
#1 is a Chipotle burrito. Always my first meal off the plane and I don't plan on that changing! I seriously crave this at least 4 or 5 times a week. No surprise since I eat it at least once a week when I'm home...hopefully it's not a daily thing though because those buggers are like 1500 calories. lol
#2 is a regular Whatburger with cheese and jalapenos! Gahhh they just don't make burgers the way I like 'em here and my mouth is watering for it!
#3 is McDonalds breakfast burritos. I want to eat ten of them.
#4 is STARBUCKS!! I always get this in the airport, but I have to put it down anyway.
#5 is a slice of New York style pepperoni pizza. mmmm
That's all this time! Are you proud? Last time the list was like 50 things. I think I'm officially acclimating. :) I've learned to cook a lot of the things I used to miss and can finally make a really mean margarita on my own so that's probably helped. The things on that list (well, maybe Starbucks) I will never be able to replicate though so I still crave them all the time.
More than the shopping and the food I am looking forward to spending time with my family! I was talking to mom and dad earlier and I'm going to try and cook for everyone as much as I can so we can sit down and have family meals instead of going out all the time. Should be nice. :)
I'm just pondering things...I don't really have anything to talk about other than that stuff so I'll go try and sleep now.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Old Photos
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2424997&id=23906872&l=aae2daa982
I uploaded a whole bunch of old photos from 2008 and 2009...it only took me two years to do it. As I was uploading I realized the extreme measures I go to avoid packing.
I uploaded a whole bunch of old photos from 2008 and 2009...it only took me two years to do it. As I was uploading I realized the extreme measures I go to avoid packing.
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