its alive!!

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



I want some cornflour!!

todays delights

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



Outfit by Anna at Door Sixteen

funkyyyyy squad

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

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!

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

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

música
Originally uploaded by laurha

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

metat-ow-sal

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

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...

birds!!

tumultuous times

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahaha

ridiculous office jargon

So, we're having some sort of Marketing "Pow-Wow" in a couple of weeks up at Noosa. I've been invited to go up there, which will be good if I can get a weekend away with M... Anyway, we've all been assigned a particular task and asked to give a little speech at the meeting... Mine, to be shared with the Registrar from Noosa is on "targeting our key demographic group online". So, we have to give a 20 minute talk on this and what we can do to be an industry leader etc. etc. *groan* You can imagine how thrilled I am to be given this task...
We have ignored the request for the past week, and now we are actually starting to freak out about this 20 minute talk... we're planning all sorts of evil plots to get out of it... such as fleeing to South Africa, I get to be the stow-away, reading out fairy tales, my fellow partner is a fan of Sleeping Beauty, I was thinking of reading a little golden book.. hehe... Baking scones and feeding that to them instead of talking..etc. etc.
Anyway, as a very helpful gesture, my boss decided to send through an explanation of what he expects from us, and some guidelines... Check it out:

Hi Liz and Linds

Since Linds is struggling to find anything to do on a slow enrolment day, here are some further guidelines to consider on your website presentation:

Ideally, any strategy will enable e-business mindshare, integrate transparent infrastructures and exploit best-of-breed web services in a fully brick-and-click value-added communities optimization environment. Through recontextualising vertical vortals, intuitive pictorial media and implementing other out of the box action items, it will empower a 24/365 uber-mindshare matrix.

The implemented functionality should retarget frictionless schemas through innovative intuitive models in such a way as to redefine impactful users and rescale current educational dot-com paradigms. It must continue to e-enable proactive paradigms and, ideally, expedite cross-platform ubiquitous marketing channels through meshing extensible infomediaries.

I hope that clarifies what we're after.

Cheers

*ahem*

After receiving this email, I then proceeded to wallop him around the head, and sent back a reply:

after ringing it through a thesaurus! Bloody weasel words!!! The translation of Ian’s ridiculously incomprehensible email…… still freakin’ hard to understand…

Hi Liz and Linds

Since Linds is struggling to find anything to do on a slow enrolment day, here are some further guidelines to consider on your website presentation:

Ideally, any strategy will enable electronic business (e-business) development of consumer awareness (mindshare), put together (integrate) clear (transparent) communications (infrastructures) and use (exploit) the best product of (best-of-breed) web services in a fully both offline and online (brick-and-click) value-added community (communities optimization environment). Through redefining (recontextualising) websites that provide gateways to information (vertical vortals), sensitive (intuitive) graphic (pictorial) media and implementing other out of the box action items, it will give power to (empower) a 24 hour a day, 365 days a year (24/365) ultimate development of consumer awareness (uber-mindshare) mold (matrix).

The implemented functionality should retarget smooth (frictionless) foundations (schemas) through original (innovative) instinctive (intuitive) models in such a way as to redefine influential (impactful) users and rescale current educational dot-com examples (paradigms). It must continue to electronically enable (e-enable) hands-on (proactive) examples (paradigms) and, ideally, speed up (expedite) cross-platform ever-present (ubiquitous) marketing channels through interconnecting (meshing) flexible (extensible) middle-men (infomediaries).

Thanks so much Ian! Your fantastic explanation has helped us a lot…

So, if anyone has any ideas on how they heck we can approach this subject, feel free to send them my way!!!!!
*gulp*