wildspirit

... waiting ...

2011-09-15T10:46:00.003+10:00

waiting
waiting
waiting

waiting for my final day at work (counting down to that - cannot wait to get out of here!!)
waiting to hear about the place we put in an application for on the coast - it was soooooo cute and in the PERFECT location at Peregian - walking distance to the shops and literally 500m or less to the beach. Cross your fingers everyone... it was amazing and would be so good to have... would save a lot of stress to have that place... looking for rentals is horrible.

... the wait continues

___

UPDATE: literally a second after I hit publish on this post I had a phone call here from real estate to confirm I work here... *exciting*
Then a little bit more waiting and I had another phone call:

WE GOT THE PEREGIAN PLACE!!! HURRAH!!!!!!!!!
Such a HUGE relief!
We're moving to the coast - we're moving to the coast - we're moving to the coast!! heheh (that is of course said in a little dancy singy way... :)
Look where we will be living! (Our place will be the little place to the left of the A (for some reason Google thinks that fancy house is our new place... heheh.. we wish)

soon buddy

2011-09-02T09:13:00.001+10:00

Everyday we tell Skol whats to come: "soon we'll be going for runs on the beach everyday! you'll be able to go swimming, jump in the waves, get all sandy, annoy people on the beach, play with other dogs" all the things he loves to do at the beach...

I hope he understands... :) happy summertime days are coming!

p.s: don't you love the way he has taken over the couch... hehehe king of the bongo bongo

Some random shots from around here:

ice skating fun at the winter festival that was on over here a while ago...

what i usually find on our couch most nights

cheers

2011-08-30T12:13:00.000+10:00

Cheers to moving!

:) Yep - I took the offer, after a bit of negotiation, and we will be moving to the coast!! Its very exciting... I handed in my resignation notice on Friday... that was SUPER exciting... Daydreamed of doing that for so long! I'm working on having my notice shortened (my contract states 4 weeks, but they need me as soon as I can get up there)... I think I may be able to get it down to 3, possibly 2 weeks, but it will depend on whether or not they can find someone to replace me. *cross your fingers*

So yeah, going back to the school - only a different campus... should be good. I'm looking forward to it. At least with the move I'll have something familiar, not a completely new situation (ie. new home, new town, new job)... you know how much of a comfort queen I am... that would probably wig me out.. at least with the comfort of a known job I'll be a bit less stressed.

Hopefully we'll find a sweet little place to rent out - can be a bit tricky to find places up there that are within our budget and pet friendly - but we'll find something.
Also hopefully Mateus' job hunt won't be too hard - if anyone knows of anything going up there let us know... Mateus would be a great worker... and he'll give anything a go!!

So yeah - all very exciting... after months and months of daydreaming - we're actually going to do it... we're actually going to move to the coast!! Hurrah!!!

images are a couple of things I have to remind myself... hehe - change!

never again

2011-08-24T20:08:00.001+10:00

Word to the wise - do not let dogs eat macadamia nuts!

Skol ate some macadamia nut butter today - bad move. They are toxic for dogs... He's in a lot of pain, poor little thing - can't really walk. We took him to the emergency vet - he's been given some pain relief (something involving opium)... and the little guy has passed out on his bed.

hugs

atmosphere

2011-08-23T10:32:00.000+10:00

Getting harder to do 'work' at 'work'... because I've finished up everything I had to do already. Well actually, that happened a little while ago, I've just been managing to keep myself entertained here. Thats coming to an end now... back to looking busy, but not being. Not too bad... on good days. But on other days I get far too bored.

I've been contacted by old work - with an offer for a job... up on the coast. Its really confusing me at the moment. I've been looking for work up there - and now they've come up with a not great but not bad offer. I am thinking about it... miss the people over there. Lots of thinking about that now... which doesn't help with the boredom.

On the one hand it would be so good to be able to just hand in resignation and know that I had a job up there and we could move and just get going on this plan that we have been working on. On the other hand, I do still remember why I left that job...

---

Lots of reading blogs lately. It keeps me entertained.

Here's hoping that soon we will be living somewhere else, working somewhere else, with a bit more time on our hands - or at least a bit of a different atmosphere to spend our time...

Inspired by these two at the moment:

mucho mucho bueno bueno

still here

2011-08-12T10:20:00.002+10:00

Still here... I kinda got busted a bit for not really doing much 'work' at... well... 'work'... heh

So I had to get my act together - and actually do some... ;)

Anyway - I am still around - still posting... just have to reschedule it. Make sure I actually do things around here rather than sit around on blogs or looking for other work or daydreaming etc etc

NZ was fun! I am just getting full movement back now.. haha... seriously brusied my forearms and my bum from all that falling down and getting back up. Another weird thing that was sore were my shins - from trying to turn and stabilise on the board... anyway.. it was fun. I have to write a bit of a summary about that later.

Its getting warmer over here... wish I was outside today...
Til later!

(image from Steady Print Shop Co. - incredibly fitting)

need this

2011-07-25T11:31:00.000+10:00

We have a fair collection of Frankie's, Peppermints and other magazines around our house. This is definitely something we could use...

Actually, to relieve our shelves we would probably end up only having these in our living room - no couch, no chairs, just these stools... hehe

Found on design squish, available through njstudio

real pussycat

2011-07-22T14:06:00.000+10:00

Holy moly

A real pet lion...

We gave Skol the nickname of 'pussycat' because he is a big sook, and sometimes reminds us of a lion... and basically he's a bit of a wuss .. hehe

But that, ^ that is a REAL pussycat... hahah only in name though, wouldn't want to mess with that one I think. ie. come dinner time you make sure dinner is in his bowl or you'll get it.. hahaha

Images found on designwatcher via LIFE archives

lady

2011-07-21T16:28:00.000+10:00

because a ladybug landed on my hand while i was having lunch in the park today... :)

old chum

2011-07-14T12:18:00.000+10:00

Awesome images found on Old Chum - can't wait to get home and listen to the trail mix!

Found via: Cold Splinters

Two of my new found regular haunts... :) makes me want to move to canada for some strange reason.. heheh

simple things

2011-07-08T09:58:00.000+10:00

A sweet little blog that I've been following of late is the winnebago diaries by Peter & Juwels

Sweet no??

They have an amazing winnebago which you just have to see - go check out their blog to see the before and after shots... then drool and dream... :) heh yeah, one day, one day... they also sell amazing antique bottle-shaped beeswax candles... again, drool and dream... one day, one day... one day these dreams will come true!!

snow queen!

2011-07-07T14:46:00.000+10:00

So we're off to there ^ in a few weeks!!! Where? What? When? How? you ask?

We have just booked a little holiday to Queenstown, New Zealand for 5 days! WOO-HOO!!

Its a snow holiday, and we will be snowboarding (or at least trying to) for 3 days... Should be fun fun fun... Very exciting. I've just been given the low-down on everything to do and get and see in Queenstown by a work mate who goes snowboarding quite often over there. She's given me all the tips... thermals, thick socks, neck warmer, gloves, jacket, goggles, sunscreen.... hehe

Flying on the 27th of July!!

(hope for more snow - they are having a bit of a slow start to the season over there this year...)

happy day!

2011-07-06T15:42:00.000+10:00

In honour of today... at some point you must make time to listen to one (or all) of the following...

Bob Marley - I don't know exactly which album we used to listen to but I can definitely remember Soul Shakedown Party (gonna have a SouUUl shakedown part-tay, tonight...), Duppy Conqueror (yes me friend, me good friend, Dem say we free again), 400 Years (400 years, 400 years, 400 years, ahhh ahhh ahhh ahhhhh, aah ahh ahh ahhhhh) & Stir It Up on birthdays!

Talking Heads: Once in a Lifetime - The Best of Talking Heads - any songs from this album

Aretha Franklin - Greatest Hits - any songs from this one too

Hehe... and preferably dance around the living room and sing along... hehehe good times!!

soon!

2011-06-23T12:29:00.000+10:00

We're currently planning something along these lines! Hehe - only I probably won't look so cool... :)

And how fun it would be if we could take our little buddy!

super 8

2011-06-21T06:26:00.001+10:00

Saw this on Sunday - highly recommended, go and see it!

fun

2011-06-15T09:52:00.000+10:00

A tubing pre-wedding party... hmmm *spark*

via Snippet & Ink

geeky

2011-06-09T09:29:00.000+10:00

According to this, I'm a treasure hunter... hehe which one are you?
Found at I Love Charts

want one

2011-05-25T10:12:00.000+10:00

Two questions:

What do you get when you combine a pony and a cat?
- a ponycat

What do you get when you combine a bucket and coffee?
- a BUCKET of COFFEE!!

Hehe...
I've just heard word of a cafe in the valley, called The Ponycat Cafe (how good a name is that?), where you can buy a 'bucket of coffee'... I'm intrigued... looking for volunteers to share one - anyone?

four eyes

2011-05-23T13:22:00.000+10:00

I went to the optometrist the other day - and my eyesight is getting worse... bit by bit... the funny thing is my right eye is deteriorating faster. oO weird...

Anyway, I will need to update my lenses, and I am thinking while I'm at it I'll get a new pair of glasses. I'm liking these sorts of styles lately...

back

2011-05-10T11:03:00.000+10:00

but I wish I was still on holidays...

and on an island...

where it is warm...

and there are a lot of hammocks...

and we could all be there...

Lets go??

__

I wrote that last week, and didn't post it... wanted to add a picture, but I will put some photos up on flickr instead.
So we're back... back in business. Well, not so much, but we're back none the less.
I got sick last week too... must be my body rejecting the fact that I have to go to work again... ;) hehe Probably picked it up on the plane, just a cold. Getting better now... but not getting better at this whole get up and go to work. I would very much like to just wake up when I wanted to rather than to an alarm. That was nice... and now that its colder and darker here it would be nice to wake up whenever I felt like it... or at least later... :)
Holidays are over - trying to get this ball rolling again

chillaxed

2011-04-06T07:56:00.000+10:00

Totally and completely on holidays here... :)

Wake up with the sound of the waves - the beach is just 50 metres away... We're at this little beach house in Ipitanga, which is very cute. Had a big bbq with Mateus' family, been out for dinner a couple of times, met all the family, eaten the local food, baby-sitted, got some sun, laid in the hammocks, studied a bit (not enough, but a bit...), totally relaxed...

We're heading back to the city tomorrow - going to do some touristy things, see all the sites... and then stay with Mateus' mum for a few days, then back here for the weekend for another couple of days.

Mateus' family have been awesome - I'm trying to pick up as much portuguese as possible - even speaking a bit...poquinho (i think thats how you spell it, that means 'little') hehe..

holiday snap

2011-03-30T11:42:00.000+10:00

Just a little holiday snap from us... we're here - enjoying the holidays... :)

As you can see... hehe - we're staying in a little unit/hotel for a couple of days with Mateus' mum and sister... will post more photos soon! :)

moonchild

2011-03-22T11:58:00.000+10:00

Perfect.

I feel like that top photo today... and I wouldn't mind being where she is... and I wouldn't mind having those clothes... (bit lumberjacky I know, but thats cool)

Moonchild

Awesome name for the brand too hey?

final countdown

2011-03-21T10:30:00.000+10:00

So - am on the final days before holidays now... which is why I've been a bit slack on the posting front.

The number of to-do lists scribbled on post-its and in my diary and on my phone is quite funny... but it works...

Couple that with uni semester starting just the other week... and also my first assignment which was due last friday, been rather busy. Managed to get my assignment done - thanks to the fact that I was quiet at work... so thats one down. I'm doing a drawing class this semester, did I say that earlier? Not sure.. but in any case that should be fun.. I haven't done any of the drawings yet, but I will... have to do a self-portrait and a drawing of my hand and other things. Should be able to work on that while I'm away. I bought all the pencils and charcoal and pens and everything that I need for the subject last week - which was like shopping for new books for school... remember that? getting new books and pens and everything for school? :)

To top everything off - I also have an interview before I fly! Haha... I got a call on Friday, from a company on the coast - and they want to interview me for a position they have, admin/secretary position - I actually applied for another position in that company, and was shortlisted, but not called for interview. Anyway, they have another job going and would like to interview me for it before I go away... So, I've got an interview on Saturday morning at 7.30am... on the coast... Which hopefully will go well. The Managing Director is competing in a triathlon on Saturday, so can only see me before he starts that... which will be funny - he's already apologised for not being dressed in businesslike clothes... Here's hoping it goes well, as it would be a dream to move to the coast... :)

I will sign off with that day dream... (sorry for all the words...)

wind

2011-03-11T11:33:00.000+10:00

I love wind - and i just found these two interesting things... (yes, i'm really busy here today! heheh)

A power flower!

People think those massive wind turbines are ugly - I quite like them... but, if you are one of those that think the turbines are ugly, check this out: a power flower. Designed to be installed wherever there is wind, without affecting the views...

A wind knitting factory!

A machine powered by the wind that knits scarves - after a while the knitted material is 'harvested' and you can purchase a scarf knitted by the wind... ooO I want one! The scarf comes with a little note saying how long it took to knit and when it was knitted.

radness

2011-03-11T10:33:00.001+10:00

Rad - rad - rad

Deus Ex Machina

Commuter Cycles

Go there - see the awesomness - two workshops/shops
One day... :)

daily

2011-03-09T09:37:00.001+10:00

Everyday I come into work and the first thing I do after turning on my computer (and unstacking the dishwasher, putting the newspaper out, turning on the presentation screen, tidying the kitchen etc) is head on over to the etsy website to have a look at the pretty things I could buy, and then have a read of their blog posts.

They have a few really good post series' going, namely "Quit your dayjob", the "How Tuesday"'s are good too.. and actually most of it is good.. but the quit your dayjob is drool worthy.. haha..

Just today, they have a sweet little how tuesday post on making paper beeswax boats, they look like fun...

:) Something I would like to make with the nieces...

A nice little quit your dayjob post that makes me want to quit my dayjob...

Can't wait to get home and watch the video Handmade Portraits on reviving vintage motorcycles... (i can't watch these from work.. boo!)

And then I am inspired by this girls style:

Featured Seller Squirrelicious. I like her leggings and shorts and dreads and jacket and bike... haha and her bathmats that she makes, they look like a nice addition to a bathroom... plus she draws cute birds...

inspiration

2011-03-02T10:51:00.003+10:00

today's inspiration:

free plant for my desk at work - to improve my plant/life balance... thats pretty awesome i think...

this cafe looks like a nice place to be... still daydream of running one... heh

this magazine is super super cool - i just subscribed.. makes me want to go and ride my bike and set up shop. haha

I also just bought this zine - because it looks like it will be a good read too... :)

Just some randoms from my world today.

arjie barjie

2011-02-26T15:33:00.003+10:00

_giggle_

makes me laugh

turn yourself

2011-02-18T09:05:00.009+10:00

Whats happening in my world lately:

- I dreamt that i had contacts in last night that during the day were normal, and then at night time turned into night vision contacts... super cool - i was of course a secret agent or somesuch and needed them hehe

- Running away crops up a lot... ideas of it anyway. We daydream about leaving and living on the coast - we are working on that hehe

- This looks like an awesome place to stay!

- Skol is an ever constant source of amusement, see below:

(more of these on flickr)

- Soon we will be here:

Where? - Brazil! We have our tickets, we have our time booked, we will be there for a month!

- finally its warm and summery here, the rain seems to have gone, and we are experiencing a real summer... such a nice change from the wet we had...

- loving this song:

- and this one too - cause it just looks like damned fun:

And the words aren't that bad either... :)

love

gardening

2010-07-18T10:29:00.003+10:00

We finally bought flowers for our hanging baskets!!

With the winter, we have been kinda slack with our little house... but yesterday we made a start back on track, bought flowers for the hanging baskets, a new plant for inside; the zanzibar, while still alive, is definitely not its strongest... That plant is known for thriving on neglect, well its not thriving... so thats a bad sign. Anyway, we've made a new home for it out the front garden... in a spare spot, just to see how it goes for a little while.

Also doing a bit of a shift around, the bbq to the front, where we'll be able to use it for bbq's without being squished into our side courtyard. Getting ready for summer!

still here

2010-07-14T20:11:00.002+10:00

Just letting you all know I am still here... just quiet.

Started my new job... and uh.. yeah.. its ok, but its different to what I was expecting, and to be honest, not something I'm entirely interested in doing. I have realised I don't want to answer phones, make coffee, order stationery, check mail etc... no no, not for me... Which at least is a good thing I've realised... :)

So, actually I'm looking for another job.. hah.. I have a 3 month probation period in this job, where I can give them a weeks notice, so I'm on the job hunt again.

Anyway.. I have no access to emails, blogs, facebook, flickr or basically anything personal during the day... BOO
They block the internet and they also track your every move... which is something I am definitely not used to..

Coupled with the fact that I can't skype anyone.. oh my, I was definitely corrupted at GV... hahah

The hardest thing is that I have ample time to do everything, and no ability to do it all... frustrating...

Anyway, I'll settle in to this new routine soon, and then I'll be back.. or I'll have another job soon... and then settle into that routine... ;)

Ross Sisters

2010-06-29T09:37:00.001+10:00

Leaving Home

2010-06-15T11:04:00.002+10:00

It is very hard to do... leave home... but, I am leaving my home for the last 6 years, my work home at least.. for a new job in July!

I have been offered a position as Office Manager in an architect/interior design firm called HBO+EMTB, which I have accepted and will be starting on the 12th of July.

Super hard to leave GV... there has been a lot of tears, and I will struggle without all the girls here...

But the new position is a step up... and its a move forward.. and should be interesting... :)

Ta - Da!

Hah.. news...

Lately

2010-06-07T15:00:00.002+10:00

So lately.. i've realised i'm a tomboy. hehe.. whats new... We went to a Professional Bull Riding tournament thing here lately, and i actually found myself enjoying it.. and it wasn't just the cute cowboys ... ;) hahahahah.. mateus would make a cute one too i bet...

It was quite fun.. a bit american, but that was kinda cool at the same time. All the famous bull riders from around the world were there.. or at least america/south america and australia...

We'll hopefully be making a trip to the go-kart track this weekend... speed racer fun!

Am also going to this fighting championship thing in July.. which i find myself enjoying far too much.. hah.. its mixed martial arts, and its really quite full-on if you see it.. but i don't know why, i actually do kinda enjoy sometimes.. haha, agressive tendancies... hehehe

I am also on the look out for tickets to Bill Bailey in July. I saw a big poster for his comedy tour coming through... that will be funny.. he's the long haired guy from Black Books... Thats not so tomboyish, but more of just an update on whats happening.. heh If any of you want to come along!?!

Oh oh, i have work news.. but its a, work in progress, so to speak.. so i will tell of more details if that is confirmed, hopefully soon... :)

Lay Down In the Tall Grass

2010-05-27T11:00:00.003+10:00

I've got one more essay to go, and an exam next week, and uni will be finished for the semester... can't wait!

Stumbled on this song today, reminds me of summer...

Skol Wins

2010-05-24T14:44:00.000+10:00

Damn it feels good to be a gangsta...

Hehehe

(this is an old pic, but hilarious all the same.. and yes, Skol won, possum hasn't returned.. *yay*)

Skol vs Possum

2010-05-20T10:49:00.002+10:00

Every night, we go to bed, put Skol in the garage, and while we are sleeping, he puts on his war paint, and starts a battle with the local possum that uses our fence to get to a particular tree that is flowering at the moment.

He'll psych himself up, and then at same time everynight when the possum comes along, he launches himself out of the garage, charges through the dog door and down our courtyard to bark his head off at the thing...

It meanwhile taunts him from up high on the fence.. *nananaNANA* you can't catch me...

But he persists.. and barks and barks and barks, and actually manages to annoy it to the point where it returns growls and hisses and these horrible noises...

Then, he'll fall back to the garage, recompose himself, and then charge out again... to more growls and hisses...

---

If anyone has a suggestion as to how to deter possums from our fence, please let me know!
Rather sleep deprived lately... *yawn*

My parents are awesome

2010-05-10T13:42:00.004+10:00

In light of Mothers Day yesterday, I point you to this amazing site... My Parents Were Awesome

I stumbled upon this site, where you can send in pictures of your parents before they had children... heh.. I definitely want to put one up!! or two or three! hehehe...

Check it out!

getting through it all

2010-05-05T16:10:00.003+10:00

Whats happening in Lizland of late?

Hmm.. Uni, work, home, Skol, weekends away... and major cash saving cause of interest rate rises and what not.. but we're managing, i hope.. heh

Just trying to get through it all.

Uni has been good, i'm not struggling so much this semester, only have 2 subjects going, but i do have an assignment due Friday, which hmm.. i've looked at.. and have not yet put pen to paper.. hahaha.. yeah, last minute cramming needed. Thats tonight.. and tomorrow night...

Work's fine.. but definitely stuck in a rut. Am hoping to have new opportunities soon... more news on that soon... *wink wink*

Revamp

2010-04-30T13:46:00.002+10:00

Well, i did a bit of a revamp here.. but jeez, i've forgotten a lot of things, like html things.. its hard.. hah.. anyway, think i like it for now.

Bit orangey... ochre... Maybe its because its like a sunset in summer, and summer is setting, so think i'm trying to hold onto it a bit more...

Yeah, I'm a summer-girl now!

So things have been good, house is good, skol is good, mateus and i are good... its all good...

There are more changes coming... :)

FAR too long

2010-04-29T14:54:00.003+10:00

It has been far too long since I have posted anything up here... I guess I've just been slack...

I will be making more of an effort to post again... actually I think its time I revamped this blog...

Stay tuned!

Blondie

2010-01-07T11:34:00.002+10:00

I WENT BLONDE!

hehehe, just a little... its kind of a grey/ashy blonde.. not sure about it yet.. but am getting used to it.

Think it will lighten up in the sun... :)

TA DA!

aspiration

2009-12-29T11:24:00.004+10:00

I've been trawling through my blogs that i trawl through.. click click click click and have found my dream house... check it out:

...loving the rock courtyard...

...and the beams in the kitchen...

...loving the fact that they play ping-pong with their pup... and the fact that they have a ping-pong table...

...and their garden is so sweet with the picket fence around it...

...and if you haven't guessed already, they are my idols... hahaha when i grow up! ;)

Check out their pics and story here at The Selby

They also mention that on their place they have a couple of barns, which have been converted into guest houses and play houses... *drool*... hahaha

P.S: Their garden is also envy worthy...

adventure!

2009-09-18T16:39:00.002+10:00

Feeling like i want to be an adventurer after i found this little trailer for a new movie: Amelia

On Amelia Earhart... looks good hey? if a little american... :)

And found this awesome story about a German woman, Clarenore Stinnes who circumnavigated around the world in a car in 1927! How cool is that! Her and a camerman and a couple of mechanics and an ollllllllddd car... hehehe, although it would have been new then... Anyway, check out the video!

She speaks pretty good english too.. :)

Found these gems on a new blog that is so vintage... Hollister Hovey, do check it out to swoon at vintage glamour things... hehhe...

excerpt from weekend

2009-09-17T12:53:00.002+10:00

oh my god, what is this stuff.. oh its wonderful, its dirty, oh i can roll in it, and have it stick to me! hahaha, i'm going to annoy them and get really dirty! hm, can i eat it? *cough splutter* hmm.. not tasty, but so great to stick my nose in! Oh, and dig! DIG DIG DIG! Yay for that!

OH! Who is that? Can i meet them? AARHGHGHGH (running towards random person) HEY HEY who are you? Can i bite you? Can i bite your fingers? Hey hey! Look at me, pat me, but i want to bite your fingers! hey hey!

OH! Owners.. they are calling.. ARAHGHAHHHG (running towards us) CRASH! hahaha, this place is amazing, i love it, oOOoo whats that? A ball and stick throwy thing, can i bite it? YAY! I can.. haha, i got it, i got it! Hey, you threw the ball... oh i'll run... (Gets half way)... ahhhh.. thats too far! Forget it, i'm not getting that.. you go get it... ARARHGHGHHG (running back to us) I like this sticky throwy thing better.. i can pull on it while you hold it! grrrrrr.. thats so fun! i'll just chew on this thing.. its better...

---

Our weekend from Skol's point of view... :)

uploading

2009-09-07T20:55:00.003+10:00

Hi all... so after almost a month, i have got around to uploading photos! Hurrah! hehe... they are on flickr... :)

Here's one for now...

We're all settled now.. and things are great here in our little place... :)
Talk to you soon...

Oh P.S: I had the phone connected, but have now gone for a voip system, and am setting that up at the moment.. will let you know our new phone number soon!
love love love

we're in

2009-08-17T14:56:00.002+10:00

hi hi

just a quick post to say, *phew*

we've moved...

I have to take photos, and have no phone or internet at home, so will try and upload some tomorrow...

:)

its ours

2009-08-13T15:21:00.002+10:00

Well, its ours! I just had a phone call from our solicitor, and settlement has gone through as of now, which means we are now owners of a townhouse... Wow!

Thats a little scary, but kinda cool at the same time.. can't quite believe it!

We've been busy packing and cleaning inbetween dealing with pup behaviours from Skol.. ie, getting hardly any sleep from him crying at night... chewing on things when he figures out how to get past the barrier we have up from kitchen to living room and then discovering how wonderful it is to chew on playstation controls and usb mice and shoes! He has been keeping us fairly entertained... Last night was the first night where he almost, ALMOST, didn't cry.. there was a little whimper around 4am...

We're going to miss the house, its got a great little vibe, and is perfect for summer... but we will be glad to get away from the flood prone area, and not have to worry everytime it rains. Last night it stormed here, and we had just shifted all our furniture and boxes downstairs ready for a quick move on Saturday.. so there was a mild case of worry when it started to pour down rain.
We will also enjoy living in a place that is not an icebox in winter...

It will also be great having a proper setup for Skol. We're planning to install a dog door in our garage, so he can come in and out as he pleases, as opposed as him having to wake us up to go outside at night... will be fantastic.
I'm also taking Skol to Puppy School on Sunday... which will be fun. I want to start training him as soon as possible, because we have a feeling he may be as strong as his father... which will mean we need to make sure he knows we're boss. I went for a bit of a run with him yesterday too, and he loved it.. can't wait til he is old enough to come on my full morning runs, that will be great motivation. He needs the exercise too, to keep him lean.

I will dearly miss the area though.. is so great being so close to the city and having all the parks around us and organic markets and community farm and lovely vet and the best fish and chip shop i've ever been to!
We've vowed to go back there even though its now a bit of a hike from us..

We're heading out to pick up keys this afternoon, and move a bit of stuff tonight, then we'll move a bit more tomorrow.. and Saturday is the big day..

Whew... can't quite believe it.. i said that already didn't i? hahaha

Say hello to.......

2009-08-02T09:50:00.003+10:00

SKOL!!!

The newest addition to our little family... hehehe... He is an 8 week old Staffy, black and brown, with little white patches on his chest and chin and one back foot.
And he is gorgeous... a little trouble... heheh

things that make me grin

2009-07-16T14:53:00.005+10:00

Just a random post, while i'm sitting here at work, a little inundated and unenthused to be here... keep having these random thoughts and things about little things that make me smile...

Such as, remembering Willow being a hip-hop girl listening to Hilltop Hoods, hehehehehehe makes me chuckle...

And good buskers, there is a jazz type group that plays really good music just outside the bus station i get off at... makes the mornings better.

This photo:

Thinking of moving in and setting up house! Hurrah! Our house, OUR house.. wow, its going to be ours... :)

Looking for that perfect pup for us... Had a quick browse today, many many adorable pups out there...especially staffy x boxers..or boxers in general.. hehe..

The thought that summer is coming... yay! mini-holidays on weekends! yay!

This girls outfit: (i want.. how cute is it??)

Actually that photo comes from a gorgeous little circus themed wedding and it looks like so much fun... check out the blog of the photographer that took some really amazing photos: Adam & Halli's wedding photos by Josh Goleman
And check out the brides tattoo! I think thats Narnia inspired... hehehe

That whole thing makes me smile... very inspiring! hehehe

Watching Pilot Guides... the hosts of that show are so funny.. and they get so involved in the culture of the places they visit, its fantastic. The best travel show out there.

Dark Chilli Chocolate by Lindt. Its amazing.

There are more... but that will do for now... :)

finally its happened

2009-07-13T12:35:00.004+10:00

I was in a right funk today... just everything was wrong. Typical Monday... didn't want to be here at all... and work is being annoying... Then i was getting annoyed that we still hadn't heard anything about our townhouse, when we'll be able to get in there etc. So i decided to send the people that sold us the townhouse an email to ask them, and they rang me straight back, and i have big news!
They are just lodging the papers to get titles registered which could take 1 to 2 weeks, and then after that, its 14 days til settlement, and then we can move in!!!!!!
Which means, we should be in there in either the 1st of 2nd week of August! YAAAAAAAYY!!!

Thats put a totally different spin on the day... :)

Had a great weekend at home, and partly that is a reason i was in a bad mood, didn't want to work today, would much rather run around and water plants with Willow and chat.. hehehe...

Anyway... i'm off to bounce around a bit more with this news...
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY!!!

ramble on

2009-06-29T10:26:00.002+10:00

We went to West End on Saturday, out to a little bar/restaurant there called Lock'n'Load.. I must admit, its one of my favourite, not only cause of the name... but its small and good and has this little garden out the back.. :) Anyway.. we caught a taxi home and had one of the best taxi drivers ever... Australian guy, who drove incredibly fast, took us a quick way home, knew where he was going, listened to Led Zeppelin, raced another car full of idiots and won and was just generally brilliant.
It was the best... its so good to find a taxi driver that is brilliant... :)
And Led Zeppelin is wonderful... at least I think so... :)

This was the song Mr Taxi Driver had playing:

One of my favourites!

rapid ruby

2009-06-19T13:58:00.002+10:00

In Byron Bay today... and tomorrow, and Sunday, and was here yesterday too... Heh.. had to come down to man the office while the normal guy that mans the office went to sydney for something... noone else to answer the phones, so they sent me down here... Its been raining, and then sunny, then raining, then pouring, then cloudy... and cold the whole way through. Not the best weather for it, but hey... they are paying for my accommodation down here, and we even get a weekend down here!

*yay*

Its really quiet here at this school, which is great for a change. Normally I'm flat out and there are tonnes of students all around, this school on the otherhand is small small small... great for writing blogs! and checking blogs! hehe

Things coming along alright otherwise... townhouse is still being built, we had a slight hiccup with fence, but think thats all sorted now. Have been looking at puppies... ;) We found these adorable staffy x labradors, they were my favourite, but possibly going to grow too big for our place... also found these adorable cattle pups... but also possibly going to grow too big. Damn. So we've been looking at staffy pups.. heh.. maybe getting one for my birthday! hehehe Can't wait!

I painted my nails red, which is something i normally wouldn't do, but i'm finding i like it.. they are this ruby colour, which is really pretty, like i've got candy nails.. and i feel like the girl that writes this blog: http://taza-and-husband.blogspot.com/

She always has red nails... :)

Anyway.. thats the random news from me... over and out

check da e-mail

2009-05-27T11:33:00.003+10:00

hahaha

cause I haven't seen him in ages.. I present to you STRONG BAD!

Receeded

2009-05-23T10:34:00.005+10:00

Escaped the floods again.. well, the waters have receeded. You would have seen on flickr, we got flooded again here. Worse this time, a meter more than last time... but at least it was still below our floor level. And we didn't lose anything... just had a lot of mud to clean out of our garage...
It was pretty insane... they had boats checking people down our street! BOATS! hahaha... and not blow up ones, but real aluminum boats... hahaha.. we are thinking of purchasing a boat and tieing it to our stairs, incase it happens again.. hahahaha

Came up to the same height as last time, or just below, and stopped for a little while and then continued to come up... to an incredible height compared to before. Was pretty crazy coming home through the waters! They even closed down Lutwyche Road because it was flooded... just insane.

We were lucky, Mateus was able to finish work early and come home and then moved everything from downstairs, shifted the washing-machine up on top of the laundry sinks and made sure our bins were secure before the water came up. Then he even came out and rescued me from the waters... :) such a good one!

That was pretty full on, and hit at a time when we've been rather preoccupied with other things... such as: buying a house!

Mateus and I have put an offer in to buy a townhouse in Zillmere... :) A two bedroom, two storey new townhouse that will be finished in June. We've put an offer, and have gone to the bank for the loan and are just waiting for confirmation of the loan and we've got all the money sorted... and yeah, it will be ours! Woohoo!!

http://www.realestate.com.au/realestate/agent/pinder+properties+pretoria+villas/hhowaq/105502323

Thats a link to a townhouse that is a mirror image of ours, ours is the same except on the opposite side... And ours will have wooden floors.

Pretty exciting hey?! Thanks for the help with getting it too... :)

Hope it all comes through. Will be great to have a place of our own... and a little strange too. I can't imagine living somewhere where I can do whatever I want... I mean, paint the walls or put in a nail or something without having to think about a landlord or real estate agent. That will be strange! haha.. A place of our own!

And we've already checked, its not flood prone! hoorah!! :D hahahaha

hectic

2009-05-21T20:30:00.002+10:00

Haven't posted in a while...

Things have been a bit hectic.

We got flooded again yesterday, I'm just uploading some photos to flickr site... funny video to come...

Writing more after we calm down.

:)

relief

2009-04-17T12:31:00.002+10:00

---------------
Relief that its friday, that my assignments are finished, and the possibility of a visit to the beach in about 3 months...
---------------

and a little photo of people that look like us the other day when i rode my old school bike and mateus skated along behind me hanging on.. hehehe ;)

cutest couple ever!!

hahahaha

when i grow up

2009-03-23T14:22:00.002+10:00

I saw this video clip on Sunday morning, and i was mesmermized...

gdf13th

2009-03-13T09:13:00.003+10:00

Today is Friday the 13th... and its also, Good Deed Friday the 13th!

Hehe... i've renamed today that...because I work with someone here at school, and she's had a rough week, so I went out and bought her some flowers and a little cupcake to let her know that she is appreciated here and we all love her... *awww*

Feeling very giving today... definitely a day for good deeds...

:)

flowery falcon

2009-03-04T09:28:00.004+10:00

Ok.. so the story behind the tattoo... I have wanted to get a tattoo for a long time now, and i have not got one because i wanted to get a design that i felt good about, and means something to me... i didn't want to get a tattoo for the sake of getting a tattoo, it should be something meaningful.

Finally, I found it... a falcon, which symbolise a lot of things, wisdom, focus, guardianship, passion and power. And that would be perfect for me... to remind me to be focused, powerful and aspire for the things that i have always wanted to do. And then i had the idea that the falcons wings and tail could turn into flowers, not only to make the tattoo pretty, but just cause that would work... :)

I had been recommended this tattoo artist by the name of Mimsy, who is fantastic by the looks of her work, and also by the fact that she is completely booked out until the end of April! Hmm.. after finally deciding on a tattoo design, i figured i have to get it now.. so i didn't over think it.
So, i got in touch with another reputable tattoo parlour, Westside Tattoo, at West End. That was last Thursday, and they just said to drop in with my design ideas and they would be able to recommend the best artist for the job... who was a fantastic artist by the name of Lily. Now, it turned out that Lily had a big cancellation of a sleeve that she was to do yesterday, from 12 to 6pm... (yikes thats big).. anyway, so i booked her in... and got it done!

Lily was so lovely... really nice, and we did have to redraw the design after i got there, it wasn't quite right.. but the end result is a LOT better than I had imagined...
I love it... hehe... may be a bit of a shock, but trust me, its beautiful. You should see the detail in the design.. (you can actually see the nose holes on the falcon's beak!).. and yeah, its just beautiful.

falcon!

2009-03-03T19:25:00.005+10:00

Ok... now.. i have some very exciting news.. first of all... i got that skateboard.. its very very cool.. i tried it out on the weekend, not as hard as i expected, but i'll have to practice practice practice and need to take it to a bigger spot to practice.. but its fun! And i really just love the photo on it... heh.. its gorgeous, and i use it more as art, at least at the moment...

Next... is the bigger, much more exciting news...

now... I think, if you are Mum and Papa reading this, you might want to take a deep breath...

because...

I GOT A TATTOO!!!!!

Ok ok.. i know.. a bit out of the blue, hehe.. but i really have wanted one for ages and ages, and i finally thought of a design that is perfect!!! I just got it today, this afternoon, so its still really fresh.. i'm waiting until i can take off the cover and then take some photos... but if you want to see the current photos.. this is it:

So its a Falcon, that is obviously flying.. and its tips of its wings and tail are turning into these gorgeous little flowers and vines.. i just love it... and its to remind me to stay focused and strong and go for my dreams... :) adorable no??

heheh.. more photos to come on flickr and around when i take the cover off.. thats just a little taste...
love!

its friday...

2009-02-18T14:07:00.001+10:00

How cool is this!! Guess the song... ;)

the trip

2009-02-13T11:43:00.003+10:00

So, the trip was fantastic... Was so good to be able to just cruise around, go whereever with no time limit or plan... just find the good spots!
We were away for about 10 days, went all the way down to Sydney, and back. We had planned to go down around the coast, and come back up through the mountains, but due to mechanical issues and losing two days waiting for the car to get fixed, we decided we'd travel the coast road the whole way round, and take some well needed time out on the beach.
We stayed at the same place we did for New Year, one night, then went down to Coffs Harbour, stayed in a 4 star caravan park there, directly opposite the beach, which was practically empty, complete with pool, games room and more... all for a ridiculously cheap rate of $22 a night! (BARGAIN!) Then travelled down towards Newcastle, ran into car issues, stayed south of Newcastle in this little place called Belmont. Found another 4 star caravan park that was right on the shores of this gorgeous lake... was so good.. another ridiculously cheap place that was amazing... Stayed a couple of nights there... then continued down to Sydney, busted a tyre on the way into Sydney, changed it, then stayed in Bondi at a ridiculously expensive dodgy backpacker... ($70 for a double room that hadn't even been cleaned and was generally pretty standard for backpackers.. ) haha... Then went to get new tyres, got 4 second hand good condition tyres for a really good deal from some tyre guy out in the 'burbs... then travelled back up north, went to a little place called Seal Rocks, which was just beautiful. Completely off the track, hardly anyone there, and these fantastic empty beaches... only thing there was that the water was ICE COLD.. and we couldn't really swim. But we did see a whole pod of dolphins off-shore, which was pretty awesome.
Stayed there for a night, or was it two.. think it was two.. then travelled all the way to Byron Bay, stayed there for a night, and then back to Brisbane.
Was great to have some time out together before Mateus flew back to Brazil, he left on Monday morning. I spoke to him last night, he is doing really well, happy to be back with his family. His sisters wedding is this Saturday, so there is lots of final preparation for that at the moment.
Before we left we asked if we could have a puppy at home.. unfortunately no, which is really disappointing, because we really thought the landlord would say yes. We're really hoping he changes his mind... :) Found this adorable Bull Mastiff x Cattle Dog cross while we were away... and even almost bought him.. hehe.. we joked that if he had said yes, we would go and buy him and drive straight back to Brisbane.. hehe... is a shame... but its alright..
Works good, i'm pushing for a better position here.. more news on that as it comes to hand... maybe a southern acquisition coming into play soon... ;)
I'm focussing on a lot of things to do for me while Mateus is away... going to start running, have been thinking of getting back into that anyway... thinking about buying one of those nike ipod sport packs, that have those cool little sensor things that give you all the details on your runs, how far you've gone etc. etc. And I'm also thinking of buying a longboard, a longboard skateboard that is.. purely because I saw this fantastic one in Bondi that had this really cool picture on the base.. check it out:

Cool huh??
Hehe... i want it only for the picture... :)
And yeah.. some other things I'm concentrating on too... I chose all my uni subjects on Tuesday... for the first term... 4 subjects so far, I hope they aren't too full-on.
Anyway... thats the update from me...I'll let you know how i go with that longboard.. heheh.. :)

am back!

2009-02-09T21:15:00.000+10:00

Hi all.. I'm back... am uploading photos today.. will post later about the trip... :)

proof that i'm spending too much time on the internet

2009-01-16T14:26:00.002+10:00

hehehe... Proof that i'm probably spending a little too much time on the internet than actually doing any work:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=iRmxXp62O8g

Hahaha

I love the IT Crowd too... :D

Anyway, I should be working.. and preparing work for while I'm away on holidays. Yes! I'm taking holidays for 2 and a half weeks.. YAY for me! Next wednesday is my first day on holiday.. and i'm really looking forward to it... We're going somewhere, we don't know where yet.. Going to get everything together and then drive south.. somewhere... heheh.. We have to get the truck fixed first.. well we'd like to.
And yeah.. going away together before Mateus leaves for Brazil for his little holiday over there..
I'm looking forward to holidays.. a lot. I've even decided to go and get a massage.. which is a very indulgent.. heh... Thinking to get one of those hot stone massages... they look good, and stones! How earthy!
Oh.. i really don't want to work today... bleh

flight of the conchords

2009-01-15T19:51:00.005+10:00

Hehehe... this came on the radio just now, and i couldn't help but post it.. heheh.. one of my favourites from flight of the conchords - Inner City Pressure

And another just for good measure.. hehe Foux Da Fa Fa

They crack me up...

In other news.. I GOT INTO UNI!!! *YAY*

doin' fine in 09

2009-01-05T13:13:00.003+10:00

Happy New Year and all that! hehe.. Thanks for all the presents and wishes etc too...
We spent the new year down in New South Wales, the Tweed Coast... on the beach, near Coolangatta... We had a great little spot where we could see the Gold Coast, and Coolangatta, which meant we got two sets of fireworks!! YAY! Cause they have daylight savings down there... it was funny, fireworks started going off at 11.00pm, and we thought, hm.. must be pre-midnight fireworks... and only afterwards we realised it was their New Year already.. hehehe...
Anyway, had a great little time down there. We were at Fingal Heads the first night, slept in the car there.. and then we went to another beach which is a bit more secluded and slept on the beach that night.. camped.. complete with beach bonfire... :) And the following night we decided we really needed a proper shower so went to a caravan park down in a place called Wooyung I think. Its really nice down there... i think it is like what the Sunshine Coast used to be before the big developments moved in and it became trendy... heh..
We drove back slowly on Saturday, cause the weather was pretty bad. Just overcast and windy and it had rained pretty hard all night.. which was good anyway, to get back on Saturday and still have a day before starting work again...
Work today, has been a bit chaotic... but at least I have only 3 weeks before holidays again! I'm taking 2 and a half weeks of holidays before Mateus is going back to Brazil for his holiday... so really really looking forward to that.
Oh, and *drumroll* I finished my Certificate IV in TESOL! Hurrah! I finished it on the 31st of December exactly, which was the last day I had to hand everything in.. hehe.. talk about last minute! I haven't heard if I have passed everything yet, but so far so good.. been getting some results back and they have been good. Just glad that I finished it.. FINALLY!
So thats crossed off my list... list is still rather long, but at least thats done... :)
I've got some photos, from the weekend.. have to put them up soon. Still doing a lot of catch up...

news from the swamp

2008-11-26T09:02:00.003+10:00

Well, actually, i don't live in a swamp anymore. But i just like that as a title...
The water has gone, no more flooding under the house. Things around our area are still a little stinky, and people are still cleaning up, but the good thing is that it hasn't flooded again and we didn't lose anything.
The water was knee high under our house... we were right on the edge of the flooding, the house next door didn't have any flooding at all. So, we were lucky. The house on the other side of the vacant block of land, had to pump the water out of their backyard and under their house.
Anyway.. its all good at ours again. We were worried about the storm everyone was predicting on Saturday, meant to be another crazy wild thing that was going to tear through again.. but it never happened. It was funny though, on the news that day they had shown people taping their windows and sandbagging, getting ready for the big storm.. and it never came.
But, the creek near us is still incredibly high. It hasn't gone down at all. It used to go up and down with the tides, now its just high. Not only that, but its not moving anymore either... its all full of debri and rubbish, and its not flowing... just stagnating.... hmm.. not good... if we get another downpour, we may be in trouble again...
Will be on weather watch!
In other news, we got the windows on the truck tinted! On Friday last week.. looks really good. Makes a huge difference having the windows darker... looks much cooler.. heheh
And, i have also just sent off my application to Qtac to study a Bachelor of Creative Enterprise next year through CQU! Am going to be a uni student again... I'm enrolling externally, so that i can keep working, and study after work. It could be difficult, but i think it will be really good for me. My second choice is a Bachelor of Business, but I think the Creative Enterprise will be more interesting. :) Am sort of looking forward to it...
Its also just hit me that Christmas is a month away! YIKES! I might try and get some time off work in January, or after Christmas sometime.. maybe a week or two. Have to talk to work here and see when others are going on holiday etc.

Am hoping i can... a holiday would be nice...

farewell

2008-11-14T08:58:00.003+10:00

So.. news.. We have sold the van!
:( which is a bit sad.. but its a step forward.
After we came back from Fraser, Mateus and I started thinking, that perhaps the van isn't going to last us forever. And due to it being an import car, if something very bad should happen to her, we would have to let her go... So, we started thinking of getting a new vehicle... We started looking, and found a few ones that we were interested in, other 4 wheel drives, not really trucks, not really utes, not really cars.. heh.. Anyway.. we went and had a look at some on Saturday, and were driving around, and found one that was not on the list of ones to look at, but was very very nice. After taking on a test drive, and then much deliberation and driving around and looking at other cars etc, we thought of trading in the van for it, but got a really really shite price, so we put the van on the market privately. We put it up on Sunday for sale, and have sold it already.. well granted the guy comes to pay Mateus today.

I feel like a bit of a traitor to be leaving the van, but she has a new owner, and Mateus assures me that the new owner will look after her. :)

The new car/truck, i think I will stick to truck, cause it sounds beefier.. haha.. Is a 1995 Ford Raider. Its sort of like a ute, but intstead of having a tray that you can't get to in a normal ute, its got one you can. Imagine a car that has an extended boot but in the shape of a ute.. hahaha.. :) I love my descriptions.
Perhaps photos will be better:

So we're still able to sleep in it, the back seats fold down, and we've got the perfect flat bed there. Has plenty of space in the back too... Is a real 4x4, not that the van wasn't, but this one is a little higher, more practical should we wish to go to Fraser again for example. Mateus picked it up on Wednesday, and its a really nice truck. Very neat inside, really good condition... We'll be driving it around for the first time this weekend.. which will be good.
Our plans are to get a nudge bar for the front, and eventually we would like side steps, we want to tint the windows, really black, like limo tint. Especially the back windows... We will get bigger tyres eventually too, like the ones that were on the van, well they weren't bigger, but they looked cooler. Chunky, due to the writing on the sides of them, so we'll get ones like that too.
So, we'll make it ours... but i will miss the van...

sneak

2008-11-11T08:28:00.001+10:00

Sneak peek of whats to come... ;)

gilligans isle

2008-11-05T10:08:00.004+10:00

heheh.. so we made it, here and back again to Fraser Island. In the van... :) It was a bit of an effort... hehe... Don't think Mateus really expected it to be as 'off road' as it is over there... ;)
I was pretty worried about the van making it over there, handling the roads etc. I remembered it was pretty tracky over there... so wasn't sure about the van handling it. But she did, quite well too... apart from one slight problem, its too low!
This time of the year is pretty bad actually, cause there has been no heavy rain to smooth the roads out, which means that all the roads are really tracklike. Just two rather deep tyre tracks... and that was alright... but it was the middle of the track that was the problem. The sand bank in the middle... Poor Kickin' Super Tripper ended up dragging her underbelly through these sand banks all the way through!
At the start Mateus was pushing the van quite hard, cause he was worried that it wouldn't make it through... and we got to about halfway across the island, just before Lake MacKenzie, before we stopped at a little steep hill down, where we peered down, and thought that if we went down there, we would probably not make it back up. Was so potholed and rough... The van was rather overheated at this stage, so we thought it would be good to just rest before we decided if we should carry on or not. After a while we considered our options, and decided the best thing would be to turn back, we didn't want to have to get stuck there...and then try and get a lift to Lake MacKenzie, camp there for the night and hitch it back on Sunday.. hahaha... but Mateus was worried about the drive back, we had pushed the van hard, and it was rather full of sand that we thought it would be a good idea to have a lifeline there to pull us out. So we called up the tow truck service, and asked him to come and lead us out. We weren't stuck, and we didn't need towing, but it was more of a confidence thing. Having someone there to pull us out if we needed it made it a lot easier for Mateus who was feeling a lot of pressure... But we really shouldn't have worried, the van made it back fine.. and up an even steeper and more potholed road than the one we stopped at! There were a couple of times where we were stunned the van actually made it through there the first time.
Anyway, we made it, back to Kingfisher, parked little van there to rest and recover, and then caught a lift back with the tow truck guy.. we just grabbed the tent and a blanket, our clothes, some food and that was it... so basic camping haha.. now, the way to Lake MacKenzie, was shockingly bad... the road there was so bad at one stage that we wondered if this 4WD would make it through, and then glad we didn't bring the van down there.... heheh
Lake MacKenzie was empty by the time we got there... which was perfect. We set up camp in this hikers camping area they have there, (all fenced off from dingos)... and then went for a swim in the Lake which is just so clear... was gorgeous. (photos will come up on flickr soon).
Was fun camping there.. really minimal, no blankets, no light, not much food.. hehehe.. back to basics! There was another couple that were walking across Fraser that were set up in the camping site, and we borrowed their little gas cooker and made noodles... had biscuits.. hehehe... rations!
The next morning we woke up early, to a rainy day... Went walking along the lake... came back, packed up camp... then we had to decide what to do next. We had our ferry booked for 4pm, and needed to get a lift back to Kingfisher from there... We were contemplating asking the people that were coming to the lake to visit... but I was not looking forward to having to go up and ask people... would have looked so dodgy.
Anyway.. then i had a look at the map i had, and it had some numbers on the back, the tow truck service and lo and behold: Fraser Island has a taxi service! hahaha.. who would think it?! So problem solved... we caught a taxi later that day... went back to the Lake first, the sun came out and we went exploring all the way around the lake, had a bit of rationed food.. and then went back to Kingfisher.
Then we had to worry about the van not starting or having issues with its steering, at one time coming back to Kingfisher, Mateus started feeling something wrong with its steering.. the wheels weren't turning... but she was fine! She's a goer that one... :)
Was definitely an adventurous weekend.. didn't go entirely as planned.. and we ended up spending way more money than we had expected.. tow truck and taxi service etc... plus we think I lost some money over there... a couple of hundred that Mateus had in his wallet was gone... and we believe it fell out of his wallet when i paid the tow truck... :( eep!! So apart from that horrible bit, it was fun. We know now, that we will have to get the van raised if we want to take her back. We will go back if we do.. depends how difficult it will be to raise the van.
You should of seen the amount of sand in the engine.. unbelievable.... and she is rather squeaky now... must get her cleaned up as soon as possible...
So, we will return to Fraser to conquer the wild once more... :)
(The van's tires have Wild Conqureror written on them... hehehe.. and i joked that we would see if she really was a Wild Conqureror on the barge over... hahaha.. not completely defeated, but not entirely conqurered either!)

island time

2008-10-30T09:21:00.002+10:00

We're back!
Yah.. back on Sunday, i just haven't written on here yet.. or uploaded any photos. Heh.. so the island was fantastic. Stradbroke Island is so beautiful! Its such a nice place to go for a little holiday... we set up camp on Friday night (which entails parking the van in a suitable spot) and then went off to the festival for a few hours. Was such a great festival too... not super crowded like normal summer music festivals, and everyone was relaxed, there wasn't anyone running around being stupid after drinking way too much. There was only one drink tent, which i think helped ... along with the fact that the majority of people there were hippies! hehe.. dreadlocks and barefeet... kids in tow... was so nice... (although a little intimidating at times too).
But it was just so nice to go to a festival that was relaxed rather than going to a super packed out one where you can't hardly walk and everyone is drunk and acts like complete idiots... heheh... yeah.. i must be getting old...
But they also had the right setup too, the festival started in the afternoon everyday, which was great as well. Meant you could just hang out at the beach in the morning, go for a swim, walk around and then head off to the festival...
We spent the mornings walking around and exploring the beaches, cooling off in the crisp water.. the water was sooo clear... it was beautiful.
And yeah, was just a great weekend for the both of us. Good to get out of the city here, and we've got the perfect van to go away on more weekends. The bed was perfect.. (mateus built the bed for the back of the van, a little wooden frame). And there is heaps of room in the back there... We bought a little cooker, took an esky too, had all the food we needed to stay for a weekend.
We've even added a few more items to the camping equipment, got a couple of camping chairs and a tarp or two to make a little awning at the back of the van and a little table too... More trips are planned! ;) Just need a converter (i think thats the name of the thing we need), a power supply thing so that we can have some power other than using the van's battery...
We're actually thinking of heading over to Fraser Island. Mateus is keen to try Kickin' Super Tripper on the sand... He wanted to give it a go on the weekend, but i wasn't so keen... So, thats the next plan.. Fraser... I hope she can make it!
Onwards we roam... :)

pluto pup

2008-10-23T18:36:00.003+10:00

We've been thinking, about getting a puppy... :) Mateus and I... We've sort of had it in our minds since we decided to get a house.. and now that we have a house, we've been thinking about it even more.
I've always wanted one.. as you know.. but have always thought that I wouldn't really be the best owner of a puppy cause I used to live on my own, and would always get home late and never have any time for the puppy.
But, I think it might work now... :D
It would only be alone in the mornings, because Mateus gets home in the afternoons, and would be great company for him... could take him for walks and play around etc. So we've been thinking seriously about it.
Just a little dog, or medium little. The neighbours out the back of us have these two sweet little puppies, not sure what type of dog they are, but they are so gorgeous. One is black, one is white.. sort of like mini-boxers without the slobby cheeks... haha.. is the best way I can describe them. And after finding that video below, I really want a boxer now! hahaha
Anyway... anyone have any suggestions for types of dog? I looked around on the rspca site the other day, there are some really cute cross breed pups around... ;)
I like the idea of a cross breed... a mutt! Sort of go for the underdog...
Need to see if the owners would allow it first, owners of the house that is... They did have a maybe to small pet, so we might be able to... we're waiting to ask after they realise just how great tenants we are!
Oh, door update! They came around this morning, with bi-fold doors... but when they went to put them up, realised that the company had cut them too small! Damn... so now we have to wait, for them to buy new doors, send them down to Sydney to be cut, and then send them back up here again. Don't ask me why they have to send them down to Sydney... its a little stupid in my brain, no-one can cut them in Brisbane? Hmm.. maybe theres an opportunity there, door cutters needed!!! So, another couple of weeks before we get doors.
We're off to Stradbroke Island tomorrow! To the Reggae festival Island Vibe... Taking the van on our first weekend away! Sleeping in the van even... :) Have tomorrow off work so that I can fully relax and get into the whole island vibe.. hahahaha

This is where i'm headin... enjoy the weekend everyone...

Happpppppy happppppy

2008-10-20T21:05:00.001+10:00

Hehehe..

This makes me laugh everytime.. the smile on the dogs face!!!

hehehe

festival song part two...

2008-09-29T20:57:00.006+10:00

Too much for one post!
On with the photos.. ;)

Here is the kitchen and you can see the dining there too... on the right hand side is the second bedroom door... frame... no door.. ;)

The favourite place of all, the hammock and bbq! hehe.. on our back deck... its so nice... i have finally put that hammock up, well actually Mateus put it up, i just lay around in it!

The other side of the deck, sorry about the rubbish in the corner.. bin day is today... hehe... nice screen there so we have some privacy from the neighbours at that side. The neighbours, by the way, have a great big german shepherd called Bear... heheh.. He is just like one!

The backyard.. with the same clothes line as home home! Even has little papaws growing in the corner... :) Mateus is super excited... hehe

And finally, the view from the other side of the house.. looking towards the front door.

So, there is the house.. its sweet and little and the perfect size for us.. Ivan and Jess moved with us too.. we're not sure if they will stay on with us or not... not too worried about that at the moment...
Things are going really well here. We've been spending a lot of the weekends fixing the van and setting up the house.. and yeah, its been really good. Its Mateus' birthday today, so we had a bit of a celebration on the weekend. Cake (chocolate and coconut cake with a dash or two of rum in it.. ;)), I got him tickets to a reggae festival thats being held over on Stradbroke Island in October, so he's started setting the van up as a camper van, building a little bed frame etc. Its so nice to be able to spend time together like that....
And... I have something else.. A new piercing! Hehehe.. I got my bottom lip pierced!! In the middle... its going to eventually be a little spike, but at the moment its a bigger one, to deal with the swelling.. I got it done on Saturday, so its still pretty new.. but i really like it... My lip is a teensy bit fat, but its not really noticeable.. which is good.
TA DA!!!

cute huh?? ;) hehehe....

festival song

2008-09-27T19:07:00.010+10:00

Hey hey hey!
I'm here.. around... enjoying the house and the recent sunny weather... summer is definitely coming back... And I am actually looking forward to it!
Hehehe...
But, before I go any further, here is the soundtrack to this post.. (I like the idea of blogposts having soundtracks... sets the mood... ;))
The Festival Song (Summer Days)

The house is so good... Moving out of the apartment is definitely one of the best things thats happened recently. Not that living in the apartment wasn't good too, just that the house has a better atmosphere. So much better, settled even.
We inspected this house late on a Friday afternoon, and basically right then and there put in our application, got approved the next day while we were driving around looking at other houses... Its perfect, two bedrooms, two bathrooms... cute little queenslander, but you know all that already!
But the funniest thing about the house, is that we have no doors!!! Yes, thats right.. no doors.. on the bedrooms and the ensuite in Mateus and my bedroom. Hehehe.. which was quite a surprise... because the house has door frames, that really stand out.. you see the door frame, and expect a door there. But, the owner apparently believes that people don't need doors, and hasn't put them up. hehehe.. And we didn't even notice until after we had moved everything! Hahahaa... At the inspection, we didn't look for doors.. we saw the frames.. looked for windows etc. Assumed all houses came with doors.. apparently not! We got the keys on Monday, and Mateus and Ivan had been moving everything all week, and it was only on the Friday when we were staying there for the first night, that they noticed we had no doors! Hahahaha.. Hilarious... So, we've constructed our own doors.. Mateus and I have hooked up a sleeping bag on our bedroom door, and have that piece of material from Cambodia as our ensuite door... and Ivan and Jess have the spare mattress up in their door. They are lucky, cause that second bathroom does actually have doors, one into the bedroom, and one into the kitchen... hehehe.. just a bit funny that we didn't realise before we moved in... But, the owner is going to put up doors, in the next few days we hope. Folding ones, so that we don't lose space. Should be really nice... to have a door again... ;)
Anyway, here are some photos! YAY!

The front door.. my umbrella suits the house hey! :)

The view through the front door.. living room on the right, our bedroom on the left.

Living room, complete with little office 'nook'.. heheh.. We bought that desk and chair from Pam cause she has left the country to go to Japan. Fits in perfectly and is really good to have a desk for the computer... Living room is the perfect size for our furniture.. the couch fits in perfectly, not too big, not too small... its quaint.. hehe

Our bedroom... Mateus' surf board... bed... door frame, but no door... hehehe ;)

The ensuite in our bedroom... we took that little clothes rack from downstairs, and Mateus is using it to hang all his t-shirts... Not enough hanging space in our room... but the rack is good... The material is pretty too... reminds me of you E!! :)

To be continued...

stay tuned

2008-09-23T15:37:00.002+10:00

I have moved, the house is fantastic.. we feel like we're on holidays.. apart from the work factor during the week... :)

A longer post to come with photos...

home sweet home

2008-09-08T15:57:00.003+10:00

Well, our lease is up on our apartment, and we've been house hunting already! And not only that but we've caught one!

A sweet little two bedroom cottage in Windsor. Its gorgeous... a cute little thing, both bedrooms have ensuites, the second bedroom's ensuite can be used as a main bathroom by locking it off in the bedroom. Slate tiled kitchen and dining area, wooden floors in the bedrooms and living room. Small enough that it won't make our furniture look super small, thats the problem with our current apartment, its so big our furniture looks tiny! Has a deck at the back that has a little serving area thing from the kitchen... the windows from the kitchen open out onto it. Big backyard at the back, with yard maintenance included in the rent, which is great, means we don't have to pay someone to do it. Its got a lockable area downstairs, undercover parking and a little shed thing under there too, extra secure. Small pets considered... and we're thinking of getting a little dog! ;) Maybe...
There is a vacant block of land on one side, which is nice, means we get a little bit of privacy on that side... Its really close to the city too, kind of just past the Royal Brisbane Hospital and a little more, then turn left and drive off the main road and your there. Quiet... and I've already scoped the area out, there is an Organic Community Farm at the end of one the streets nearby that have markets every Sunday! SCORE! Fresh produce... :D
We're going to be moving in from the 15th of September, taking our time moving, cause both Mateus and I are working during the days... but with the van it should be nice and easy... :) well most things, the bed is going to be a little drama, but we'll figure it out.
Am really looking forward to cracking out that hammock too! FINALLY!
It will be perfect...
*grin*

Things have been super smashing lately... :) tis all sweet...

Much more to write, but really should get back to work. I am currently the GV Queensland Registrar, Noosa Registrar is on holidays for 3 weeks for her wedding. She's getting married this weekend, we're heading up to Noosa for it.. I'll have to get some photos... Anyway, so I am now covering all Queensland schools registrations... BUSY

But am happy to not have to worry about house hunting... now its just the moving... Something to think about later. Now I will day dream about lying on the back deck in our hammock sipping a refreshing beverage and enjoying the weekend... ahhhhhh

paper planes

2008-08-21T15:47:00.003+10:00

My soundtrack at the moment... Really cruisy and easy. Life is good, and this song is super cool... haha

We had a great weekend at home last weekend. Spent some loving time with Kickin' Super Tripper, our van... heh.. she needed it. Its running really well now. We were/are so impressed with her... She drove all the way to the top of the mountain eassssy! :) Definitely a goer!
Only thing is, when we got back to Brisbane, we realised that one of the headlights has died... :( But... I've just called the place we bought the van, and they are happy for us to bring the van over and take it down to their auto electricians or whatever. So yay for that!

I even had a go at driving her! Hahaha.. which was funny. Mateus taught me how to drive, and sort of three point turns... but yeah.. i really need to keep practicing! hahah... tricky! Was so funny, i didn't want to meet anyone on the road... lucky noone came along...I am sure i would have freaked out if they did.

Oh! I have some more news too, I'm going to a job interview on Friday! At SpeakOut Creative
Am a little nervous, not really about the job interview.. but more about what to do if the job is good and i get it and i want to take it... thats the part that makes me sick, having to think about what i will do if its good and i want it and i have to tell GV... eep
But, anyway.. it looks like a really good company, and they have a good idea behind them... So we'll see... tomorrow morning!

We're planning to go go karting this weekend too! Which will be interesting I'm sure.. hehe.. I've never been, but its fun apparently.. so people keep telling me. I'm just worried about the whole driving aspect.. haha... :) I guess I'll get more practice there hey! Only thing is it will be going super fast... hahaha... SPEED!

happy happy :D

night watch

2008-08-07T15:37:00.004+10:00

*yawn*
Am tired after two night shifts in a row... so glad I finish work at the normal time today!
We've started an Evening Class here at school, which means one of the admin staff has to stay back until 9pm every weekday.. But the good thing is we get to start late too...
Which is REALLY nice... I can wake up without my alarm, go to the gym... clean the house a little.. I even baked a cake on Tuesday! Berry Sour Cream cake... which was eaten up in a record 24 hours! ;) Definitely a keeper...
I even got to hang out with Jessica a little, which was good too... cause I don't get to see her much during the week, with her schedule and mine being so different. (Jessica is my flatmate).

Good news is that Mateus is finishing up at the bar on Saturday night... for now. He has decided, and quite rightly so, that he is working too much, and its not good for him. He's been in and out of having a cold now for 2 months straight! So, he has asked to finish at the bar from Saturday. They've been really good to him, but working as he is during the days during the week, and then going to the bar for 3 or 4 nights does not make things easy. So, we will finally be able to spend some time together on weekends... And we will finally be able to go on those trips we had hoped we would be able to do with the van! HURRAH! Those are sorely needed... am getting very tired of work and Brisbane at the moment.

I've even gotten back into that TESOL course I started so long ago! I've given myself a deadline to complete it by September, when Pam will leave the school for Japan. :( Not very good news... its going to be really hard to work here without her... the crew is splitting up!

Hmm.. not good... But I've been focusing on the good things... like Mateus finishing at the bar... :) And OH! Check out this gorgeous clip I found on youtube last night while trying to cure my boredom...

Cute huh?

its alive!!

2008-07-17T20:19:00.004+10:00

Check out this cool video I found on youtube the other day...

I want some cornflour!!

todays delights

2008-07-13T14:56:00.004+10:00

If I could wear anything today, this is what I would wear... I love it!

Outfit by Anna at Door Sixteen

funkyyyyy squad

2008-07-11T09:12:00.004+10:00

Check it out, I have a fringe!

I'm talking a real fringe.. hehehe.. its pretty cool huh!
I have found the most awesome hairdresser ever.. his name is Gareth, and he's London born with this great style, accent, tattoos etc. He cut my hair last time, with the swoopy side part thing. And he just seems to get me... I had to go out to Toowong to have my haircut with him, but I would do it again in a flash.
He was saying last night that when he looked at me he sees this awesome 70's style, and just gets that idea when he looks at me... hehe.. which is cool, cause I think of Charlies Angels and things, and they were cool chicks! hehe
Anyway, am super chuffed as well cause he was secretly telling me that he will start his own salon soon and he has invited me to come over to it when he gets it set up. *HAPPY HAPPY* He's got all these awesome ideas for graffiti artists to do artwork for him and projection screens with cool art flicking through and funky hair cuts and it basically sounds just perfect!

Whatcha think?

comforting

2008-06-23T20:21:00.002+10:00

I went out to get some lunch yesterday... and I've been thinking about changing some things, and well, I've been rather preoccupied with some things... so thought I'd get some soup. Found this soup, butternut pumpkin... that would be yummy. The guy asked if I wanted it heated up, and I said yeah, sure. Waited for that... stood around waiting and thinking and maybe I looked a little 'deep in thought' or something... because when he brought it out, he handed me a big brown paper bag, and said "Everything you need is in the bag!".
Hehe... everything I need is in the bag...

It made me smile... :) everything? Really, thanks!! hehe

Wouldn't that be wonderful, if someone just gave you a brown paper bag that had all the solutions? hehe

found!

2008-06-21T18:01:00.003+10:00

I stumbled on this blog on one of my click click click scroll link click click click episodes here... You know those times you click on a link, and then click on another link and then stumble on something brilliant? This is one of those...
Its a blog called A cup of Jo and its short and sweet posts are full of sweet little posts and pictures and random fun-ness...
Its super sweet... :) Check it out... A CUP OF JO
Especially of note are the flirty week post (love the pic), the colour me wallpaper post (can just imagine who that would suit!! ;)), the stripey stripe shoes (gorgeous, i want!), the two parisian cuties (awfully cute), and my personal favourite post: MASH Mansion Apartment Shack House! Do you remember that game.. where you find out who you will marry, how many kids you will have, where you will live etc. Oh I remember it, only thing is I've forgotten how to play it.. but never fear, you can play it online!! HURRAH!

My MASH: You will marry Mateus.
After a wild honeymoon, you will settle down in Brazil in your fabulous House.
You will have 5 kid(s) together.
The family will zoom around in a Brown Camaro.
You will spend your days as a Writer, and live happily ever after.

Hehe... how funny is that! I even put more than Mateus in the boys section.. hahaha ;) And I'm going to be a writer! Love the car too.. hehe.. sorry about the moving to Brazil!! ;)
Try it out... Its old skool fun!

bust a move

2008-06-16T11:27:00.002+10:00

Just call me dance floor champion! Ah-Huh! Thats right... I am the champion... I actually outdanced someone on a dance floor on Friday night... hahahahahahahaha!

You see, we went out, Mateus, his friends from Kangaroo Island, some other friends of ours and myself to Birdee Num Num's.. this backpacker club... and we were dancing away.. me in particular... on the dance floor.. and we noticed this guy pulling these really funky moves, seriously he could dance... so me being all "I can dance", went up to him and started dancing next to him, challenging him to outdance me... Hahahaha!
So, he would dance, and then I would "reply"... There we were on the dance floor, he was seriously dancing quite well... and I was answering his moves with every single daggy dance move I could think of: the lawnmower, the shopping trolley, the sprinkler, the 80's kick pump, the crazy feet move... hahaha... And I WON! (meaning he left the dance floor, possibly cause he was so embarrassed for me... but it was seriously cool!) hahaha

I am the champion!!!

I just need to get this whole routine down, and I'll be set for life... ;)

música

2008-06-04T20:58:00.003+10:00

música
Originally uploaded by laurha

Ahhh.. that is what I was missing... MUSIC!!!!!!!!!!!!

metat-ow-sal

2008-05-07T20:14:00.003+10:00

I think I broke a metatarsal... again.
Mateus and I went to the Gold Coast on Monday, which was really nice.. we borrowed George's van from his work for the weekend to go van hunting, and on Monday decided to go down to the GC. You know, I actually can't remember ever going to the Gold Coast, which makes me think that I've either never been, or I've only been when I was really really little... So, that means I've never been to the Gold Coast! Hah.. how cool is that? I'm pretty proud of myself. I always thought it was a little like uhm... Miami when it was cool, only teleported into the future, so it isn't cool anymore... if you know what I mean.
So we made the trip to Surfers Paradise, which is definitely not a surfers paradise, the waves are crap apparently (so Mateus told me). We drove in and parked the car a little way from Surfers, so that we could get a free park, hopped out and proceeded to walk down the beach, towards Surfers... We were walking and talking and walking and talking and walking and walking and talking and walking and talking and walking and walking... We realised early on, that the buildings in the distance were a long way away... hmm.. ah well, the beach was nice anyway. Walking walking walking... then we stop... and we're thinking, hmm.. this is a long way to go.. we must have parked a long way away...
Then I turn around, and I see the Q1 building rising up behind us... WAY behind us. Hmm.. wait a minute, wouldn't that building be right in Surfers??
Hahah... we walked for about an hour and a half in the entirely wrong direction!! Hahahah... which meant we had to walk for another hour and a half to get to the place where we parked, and then walk a little more to get to Surfers, only this time in the right direction.
During the walk, my foot was fine, but at the end of the day, it started to play up... and everyday its been almost impossible to walk on by the end of the day. These bones suck... Take ages to heal too... *humph*
Anyway, the walk was really nice, and the beach was good, sunny, warm... ocean was there.. cold, but it was there.
It was a taste of the days to come.
Looks like we'll be able to pick up our van tomorrow, depending on whether they got the parts they needed today... and we found our carpark now too, so we'll be able to park the van when we do pick it up.
The apartments here don't have correlating carpark numbers, which makes it really confusing when you don't know what your carpark number is. The other weekend, we spent an hour wandering around the carparks trying to figure out how it worked... Our unit number is 3106, but our carpark number is C118. Yeah... logical!
Van pictures to come... :)

oh what a feeling

2008-05-03T16:35:00.004+10:00

GUESS WHAT?!!

We bought a van!!!

It looks a little something like this.. only ours is a little different. I stupidly didn't take any photos of it when we were there... but anyway, ours is cooler. For starters, our has these really cool wheels. I'm talking tyres that you would see on a custom car... big ones... hehe.. shiny and they look cool...
Anyway, its a Toyota Masterace Surf. (we liked the name too...) 1991 4x4 Diesel, 8 seater, sunroof, electric windows, automatic, air-con... Its only done 157,000km's, which seems rather low for a car that is that old... especially because it had a Northern Territory parking sticker on the inside. All the better for us! It was imported in 2000... from somewhere around the world...
So, ta da!!
We're very excited... It has to go and get its road worthy certificate, and they will renew the registration on it too, but hopefully, this time next week we'll have it!
We drove around this morning, had all these vans lined up to look at, looked at one before this one, an old Mitsubish Delica... hah, yeah.. it was not so good, and the dealer looked really shonky. Creepy looking guy that when we walked into the place came up to us like he was coming up to us to steal our money walking home late at night.. just this creepy look about him.. dodgy dodgy. So, promptly got out of that place.. and this was the second van we looked at. We pulled up behind it and liked it from the start.. seriously, you have to see the wheels, they make the van!
Anyway, inspected it all, few things need fixing inside, which they are getting done for the roadworthy, and took it for a test drive.. seemed pretty good to me. Mateus was the one listening to the engine to see if he could hear anything wrong, and checking the smoke etc. While I was the one looking at the 'look' of the car.. heh, i liked it. Pretty good suspension I noticed though.. anyway.. took it for a test drive, came back, had a bit of a chat about it etc... and put a deposit on it!
Its really big inside, and we can put all the seats down in the back, and wah-lah, we have a bed! And yeah, cool sunroof in there too.. curtains... great air-conditioning, works really well. Stereo is old, has a tape deck, but they still make those things that you plug into your ipod or whatever that is a tape right? So all is good!
We're looking forward to going away... Will be just what we need!

cause I like...

2008-04-29T17:12:00.001+10:00

birds!!

tumultuous times

2008-04-08T15:31:00.004+10:00

Ah... I jinxed myself, I said a few more days and it would be smooth sailing again. Well, its anything but smooth at the moment.
The move is over, and we love the new apartment. But it was not easy (is still not easy) to get here and to get through these days.
Mateus' grandfather passed away last week. Which is absolutely horrible. He was one of the most important people in his life, and this has been the worst time in Mateus' life. It would have to be the worst thing to happen, and to be so far away from his family is painful. The news came through the day before we moved, hence the fact that its not been easy.
I don't know what to say, other than the fact that it is the most painful thing to see someone loose everything and not be able to help them... I am supporting him in every which way I can, and that support is well needed and appreciated, yet still... I wish I could do more.
It is horrible to see the person you love walking around in this state... absolutely and completely.

Thus, I will be a little silent for a while...... right now, I am the rock.

living in limbo

2008-03-31T16:38:00.010+10:00

lim.bo n. pl. lim·bos
An intermediate place or state.

That is me at the moment... I am living in an intermediate place... half way between home and home.
We move this Wednesday... which meant we spent all day yesterday packing and have already cleaned most of the house. Everything that we own is in bags or boxes lying around the apartment, or dismantled on the balcony ready for moving.
I don't really like this state of living... feels like I'm not actually anywhere. I mean, I am there, but at the same time, I am not.

Also, being sick doesn't help... Sick all last week with the flu.. lost my voice again... Heh.. Its beginning to be a regular occurrence when I get sick with a cold/flu that I loose my voice! Which is strange, I mean, I don't talk all THAT much... Anyway, its fun to be all husky... ;) Personally, I wish my voice would stay that way. But, I am getting better... its almost gone now. I will be happy once I am better again... can start to LIVE again... rather than wandering around in this drugged up sick state of mind.

Few more days, and it should be all smooth sailing again... HURRAH!

throw stones

2008-03-18T17:08:00.002+10:00

Wow... I can't believe how sometimes, you can be thinking something, and then you see something or someone says something that is just perfect for you in the state that you are in....

perfect

parklife

2008-03-16T14:56:00.006+10:00

Moving update: We have an apartment!
We're now going to be residents of the Parklands Apartments at Roma Street!! Definitely a lifestyle change... The apartments are right in the parklands, and you have to go into the Roma Street Park to get there... very swish!
The apartment has great views too, overlooking the park...
Two bedrooms, two bathrooms.. big balcony. The complex has a pool, gym, bbq area and the works... plus being right in the park its so close to all the bbq areas in the park itself and everything.

We move in on the 2nd of April, which gives us some time to get everything together, and is actually good timing considering we have to move out of here on the 4th of April. At least we won't be paying double rent!
We're going to do everything above board this time too, ie. we've already told them there will be 4 of us living there... so its all good!
Very exciting... a very good change to make.

hopeful again

2008-03-11T15:15:00.006+10:00

News flash: We're moving again!
We've decided enough is enough, and are leaving our bitchy building managers behind! We had problems from the start at our apartment, with the managers being incredibly rude and uncooperative and everything has just boiled over this week, so we're breaking our lease.

Long story, but we applied to put Ivan on our lease, to live in the second bedroom, and they turned him down. But at that time, Ivan was already living with us... so we agreed that we would just be a little illegal and keep him in the apartment. Anyway, all was good, we were just sharing the keys between us... Then, we had our first inspection.
Oh boy... I have NEVER had an inspection that bad in my life. The guys did a FANTASTIC job cleaning the apartment before the inspection, we tidied everything away, made sure everything was really clean, only to receive a letter in our mailbox saying:

1. Carpets need to be vacuumed regularly to prevent damage.
2. Shower screens need to be cleaned to prevent soap scum build-up.
3. Marks on living room carpet and main bedroom need to be removed.
4. Hard floor in ensuite needs to be cleaned.
5. Bath in ensuite needs to be cleaned.
6. Benches in kitchen need to be wiped down.

My answer to these 6 points were as follows:
1. WHAT?! The carpets are vacuumed regularly, its the moulting rug that is the problem.
2. Fair call, they are pretty soapy at the moment, but I will clean it.
3. What marks in the bedroom? That stain was there from when we moved in!!
4. So, I moult a lot and there was some hair in the corners.. big deal...
5. Again, stained from previous tenants!
6. WHAT WHAT WHAT?!?!?!?! HOW DARE YOU?!?!?!?!

Ahem... They should be glad they weren't around when I got that letter... far out.. the expletives that came out of my mouth.... GRARH! We live there for crying out loud, and the place was clean and very obviously we are not damaging the apartment at all!

The next paragraph on the letter is a very fair call though... "We believe you have a third tenant living in your apartment and this person should be removed from the premises".
Yes... our bad, we actually have 2 extras.. but SHUSH!!
Anyway, we try to think of damage control and we decide that I will go down to the managers on Monday morning, and tell them that there is someone staying with us, who is Mateus' "cousin" and he is just staying as our guest for a few weeks. We understand that we can't have a third person living there unless we put them on the lease, but he isn't living there etc. etc.
Right, then, on Sunday, the bitchy managers actually run into Ivan when he is taking the rubbish out. And they ask him to pass on the message that I need to see them about him living there because he is not allowed.
This infuriated all of us no end because how dare they assume that he is living there, and how can they just walk up to someone and say that. No who are you? Do you have friends here? Are you living in these apartments etc. I mean, he could have been a friend that was over at our apartment for the afternoon and was being nice and taking our rubbish out!
So, Mateus and I go to see them on Monday.. and we walk in, and we explain that we understand that we can't have a third person, he is Mateus' cousin etc. etc. etc. They will not listen, and will not come to a compromise. So, after arguing with them about having guests stay with us, we say fine, if you won't accept someone staying with us, we are leaving. Whats the procedure for breaking the lease?
They give us the forms, we go upstairs and we bring them back down, signed, sealed, delivered!
So, we are leaving in three weeks! YIKES!
House/Apartment hunting again... We have already put in one application, and the managers there are really nice and were very impressed with our application. They have even done all the reference checks! No word yet... Guess they are trying to get hold of the owners... We'll hear tomorrow morning if not this afternoon...
We're also looking at some houses, as opposed to apartments, in the city area too. Much better because we will have our own space and no managers breathing down our necks.
So... anyway... moving again!! Hah...
Oh, the funniest thing about the whole situation is the fact that we stood up to these managers, and this morning, I got a call from them, kissing my @ss... Apparently they had discussed it with the owners of our apartment, and we would be able to come to some agreement to have the third person in there now... HAHAHAHAHA! If we want to stay we can just go in and talk to them about it... Yeah, we said we'll think about it, and let them know.
NOT LIKELY!
I mean, yeah, we'll think about it... but only as a last chance.

Hehehe... Feels good to have them chasing us for a change... ;)

buzz

2008-03-05T16:29:00.002+10:00

WOOP WOOP!
I (finally) taught my first ever lesson!! And it went smashingly! At least I think it did... ;) I felt like it did, and after talking to other teachers around here, if you feel like the students had a good lesson and you walk out of it feeling like it was a good lesson, it generally is, you know when its not. So, I am super psyched!
Look at me, I'm a teacher! Hahaha!

I taught a Conversation English lesson for an hour, and had a full class of 12 students! There were more that wanted to come in, but I had to close the door on them... Heh... I think that had a little to do with the fact that everyone here at work had been super excited themselves about me teaching and told every student to come along... So nice! Its really great to have all this support... Especially from Mateus; he has been the one that has pushed me that extra little bit to finish this off, and I am so glad he did... And its really great to have all this support and excitement from everyone around me too... Even the students here are excited for me!

Really really happy with it... plus, you get this weird teaching buzz: you realise that you can teach, and the students are enjoying your lesson, and you are too, and its kinda fun. Mind you, I did have a great bunch of students that were really outgoing and I was teaching a conversation class, which isn't anything hard... but, its still fantastic!

Now, what should I teach next week?! Hmm.. off to work on my lesson plan!

giggle inside

2008-02-28T14:46:00.008+10:00

Anouk has inspired me...

10 things that make me sparkly;

1. - getting any kind of mail, email or mail, and reading new blog posts etc. from everyone.

2. - seeing my niece's smile... ;) videos and pics of my niece...

3. - cuddles and sweet kisses

4. - chocolate sprinkle on the top of cappucinos :p yum

5. - the light after a storm or rain... when the sun is all yellow and golden...

6. - treats such as clothes, shoes, books, dvds, music, games

7. - smelling luscious (karma perfume, lush soap etc)

8. - seeing bats fly around at night, and swallows swooping during the days...

9. - laughing so hard my stomach hurts

10. - the wind blowing in my hair...

and an extra one because I love it so much 11. - the woosh and super speed you feel when a plane takes off... :D Makes me smile everytime...

but there are so many more... *hug*

midsummer nights dream

2008-02-18T15:11:00.005+10:00

Mateus and I are going to buy a van, as soon as we are able. Will be so great to have the option to get out of Brisbane, go traveling a little on our weekends, spend some time whereever we want.

The sweetest summer dream...

tiddly-dee potatoes

2008-02-06T16:34:00.000+10:00

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahaha