Happy Holidays

Christmas 2009 was fantabulous as I got to spend it with the Kiwis....yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!! Uhmm no not the kiwi fruit which could amount to precisely what I did over the last few X'Mases but this time with the New Zealanders -- cousins from across the ditch!!! All me bags were packed and ready to go from work.... and so twas off to Coolangatta to catch up with Mr I, Mrs C, Miss P and Miss S

Christmas eve saw us attempting to bond with the GPS system as we tried to navigate our way to church. When we finally arrived at our "to be destination" after taking the so called "other left" the "other right" and the "other lane" after going around in circles it was a dead end!!! The memorable drive down Reedy Creek Road will sure stick with me for many Christmases to come as the talkative back seat driver succombed to being car sick and refused to get a word out. So we soon found our way clambering back to the hotel at Kira beach. Was a rather joyous Christmas Eve when we finally made it back on solid ground!!! :) :)

Mr. I went on a late night prowl after dinner to suss out the location and we were back at Reedy Creek Road on Christmas morn! The lovely childrens' mass with a Polish Priest, a kiddie's band on a Basketball court in a school auditorium which also had an overlooking gymnasium and a disco ball hanging in a corner was a unique experience! More eating and it was off to Mt. Tambourine and back. Then it was lazing out at the spa, followed my an awesome Christmas dinner.

The next day we decided to take on hollywood on the gold coast - we were off to meet Shrek, Tweety and Bugs!!! Mrs C and I thought it wise to leave the thrill rides - Superman Escape, the Batwing Spaceshot and Lethal Weapon to the pros - Miss P and Miss S and no doubt Mr I. We opted for the family friendly shows - the Shrek 4D adeventure where we were drenched by donkey's sneezing fit and had spider's falling into our lap sending legs literally flying into the air. While Miss P and Miss S were off displaying their bravery on show, the three of us decided to line up for the Scooby Doo Spooky Coster Ride with Mrs C and I under the illusion that it was a harmeless kiddy ride where carts just move around on rails and things attempt to pop out and spook you. The first few minutes of the ride was harmless and pretty much as expected..and then your cart does a 180 degree turn and goes up a level with ur back facing these wooden doors..you then complete the 180 degree turn and we innocent souls were expecting to get off...but alas...the door opens and all you hear from us is OHHH CRAP!!!!! WHAT have we got ourselves into!!! as we hear muffled laughter from not very far ;) Yep, you've guessed it - a massive room with an indoor roller coaster with countless turns and ups and downs....and we had a view from the top from where we entered!!! Gulp....and that was an exercise for our vocal chords besides our nerves that just waked out that door!!

Back on solid ground again we watched the parade on main street, the Looney Tunes' What's up Rock!? Show, went by for the Batman Adeventure Ride 2 on reading and checking and double checking no roller coasters were involved, caught up with our all time favourite Warber Bros' characters - Shrek and Tweety and this time took an immobile seat at the Hollywood Stunt Driver show as we had had enough of stunt driving to last us a lifetime on that roller coaster (and more so with me having a second go (which was as bad as the first) on it after Miss S talked me into it!!! (and unbelivable there was no queue this time around - count me lucky!!!))

The day came to and end with more eating, Miss S sucessfully experimenting a milk shake on Mr. I and my first successful enjoyable encounter with eating lychees which I normally wouldn't have taken a liking too...but thinking of lychees now...hmmm..as long as they are cleaned and uhmm reviewed (after the facts I had to listen to while sampling them ;)

Sunday saw us coxing the GPS again as we made our way (in circles) up to the Sunshine coast to Mooloolaba and Noosa and back to home sweet home. Noosa is a quaint lil' place and had the most amazing birds!! But am too blogged out now to continue as I attempt not to fall asleep on my keyboard as I listen to the pitter patter of the rain on my tin roof.

Thanks Mr I, Mrs C, Miss P and Miss S for an awesome Christmas. :) as above all else loved your company and spending time catching up with all of you :) :)

The five- minuter!!!

The foodie at work....

My five minuter.....after I was done with dinner (hence the half-full pan) cause I was just way too hungry!!!

Followed by my all time favourite which I have an irrestible weekness for...Sarah Lee
Cheescake....hmmmm.....yummm

"The quintessential Italian experience!!!"

Simply irresistible...

Another hot brissi day and I succumb yet again hopelessly to the ultimate in indulgence...GELATO!!!

Amo il gelato...soprattutto il gusto di Noce di Macademia!!! hmmmmmm....Delizioso

Grazie al mio amico italiano, PS per introdurre me al gelato (e per la foto).

Suprising this is my first food-related blog, considering am an all out foodie...so keep an eye out as I blog my way through my tastebuds!!!

Me thinks

that I have the "bestest" career coach in whole wide world :) :) Thanks Mr.M for believing in me and for taking me on! Shall be all ears and listening with intent...

My Latest Aussie Pal!

Me latest aussie pal (who I must say is infact quite cute and adorable)...has officially been christened "Champagne" as of today. All started off with a misinterpretted conversation I was having with a friend when I was still half-asleep. To cut a long story short decided was pretty apt as the fellow hangs out the whole day long in a daze behind the air conditioning unit enjoying the cool breeze in the shade (while I suffer in the brissi heat cause I don't have the heart to turn on the air con. and send it packing in this heat!!) And once the sun goes down, brings down the house partying on my roof all night long until day break....

..so that leaves one content possum and one distraught possum-terrorised tenant!

Choices Choices

Just had a friend of mine suggest a possible career option for me. Thanks Nits, I would never have thought of this one earlier...Gotta love this one though - a "POSSUM BREEDER" considering I have a natural gift for the same!!!!

Well gotta keep my options open with the economy being what it is. Hmmm...wonder what my other career options would be....

Ok gotta sign off now in my attempt to reform a person into how to staple documents "neatly".

Life in my backyard!

I have finally decided to fess up to the fact that the local wildlife in australia is truley in love with me.....

It all started off when I first moved into my new found unfamilar territory. The going was good..It was all mine to explore, do as I please, make it my home...and a few years into this blissfull lifestyle of mine, trot comes a possum!!!... straying onto it's enemy territory, infringing on MY territory and quite comfortably making itself home. I named him Richard Parker only to realise weeks later that Richard had to be re-named Rickeesha as I had more company :) Well I eventually drove Rickeesha out (but mind you only when the littlees has grown up, cause I did not have the heart to before that!!! And by driving her out, I mean relocating her nest to someplace else!!!)

So then life returned back to normal. Seasons changed. New neighbours moved in and I was thrilled that they had a pile of welcoming cardboard boxes on their balcony awaiting possums to relocate to greener patures if they do happen to come door knocking again.

But I wake up this morning and what do I see sleeping nice and cosy in the corner of my pristine clean balcony???? - a possum huddled up and fast asleep literally without a care in the world!!!

Possums!!!! so what have I observed of the species that has sooo fallen for me. Thier only real habit during the day is indolence!!! fourteen hours of utter solitude in a day which no amount of nudging or prodding would suffice to budge them even an inch!!! However when it comes to night, it's quite the opposite as it's party time on my roof!!! More observations to come as I bond with the latest arrival...

However I always look on the brighter side of life - I have someone to yell out good morning to when I roll out of bed and I have an ardent fan that never complains or tires of my singing :)

Hmm...need to think of a name for my boarder. Any suggestions???

A taxing weekend!!

"There is no such thing as a good tax" - Winston Churchill

Yep, you've guessed it..It's that time of the year again. Twas all la-di-da just comming out of a pleasant winter heading into spring awakening when the tax man cometh knocking at ur door (or more so in this day and age spamming your inbox with emails!!!) and gives you not just a rude awakening but a jolt out of bed!!! huh

I don't understand why us single people just starting out on life need to be taxed out (more so than others!) before we can even get our feet on solid ground!!!! Here are some of my queries/comments...

1. I've been toiling away for 365 days of the year only to be rewarded as being an elite tax payer (aka - single and screaming to be taxed) And what do I get in return for paying my tax promply every single year (that's besides being welcomed into this esteemed category)? Well this year round for added service - email spam and a free computer crash that comes along with using the app!!!

2. If an accountant assists you in lodging your return you can claim his fee. But what about all those people who go through the pain and toruture and trouble of doing it themselves?? (Even the genius in Albert Einstein recognised that "the hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.") So howzabt an incentive/service fee for their personal services, time, effort?? nah, we just tax them more for not generating income for all the fat cat accountants out there.

3. Do we get to choose where the government decides to spend the money? More flights for politicians whizzing around the world, money blown up in smoke just to light up the sky for a few people rather than the lives of many more, breakfast on a bridge!!

4. And how much is enough!!! The list does not end with salary tax along...but closely followed by medicare levy, medicare surcharge, entertainment tax, fringe benefits tax, tax on travel, electirity, phone...blah blah blah

5. And to top it all, what do we get in return?? after having stressed yourself out after all those years of paying taxes and you find yourself in need of a hospital bed you'd be sure you'd have to wait for your turn till it finally comess around when your long gone.

6. Hmmm and now since I'm taxed out, what are my final thoughts on this "inevitable"??? - In the words of Bill Archer, the world will be a better place if we "..care for each other more, and tax each other less".

My Bucket List

Had a wake up call twice over today (an email and a fellow blogger)..So without much ado, here's my ever growing list (some things of which I've managed to score off) of things to get cracking on and in no particular order.

* Live in another country
* Travel in NewZealand
* Keep in touch with all my friends and family
* Stand up to what I believe in
* Be grateful for all that I have and for my experiences
* Stop dwelling on the past
* Give my best in all that I do and opportunities that come my way
* Have a conversation with God everyday
* Try to grow a plant (and not subject them to an excrutiating torturous death which I have a flare for at the moment!!)
* Be humble in word and deed
* Make a perfect score on every assignment in one class
* Repay my parents (amd that includes by sis and bil) for everything they have done for me
* Be able to sit in a room with an insect without screaming and running away
* Telling the people you love that you love them
* Go travelling with my friends
* Read the Bible from cover to cover
* Solve my own problems
* Attempt to be a better cook rather than a creative cook!
* Be a better person
* Make a difference in someone's life
* Look back on life and never regret anything
* Celebrate life by truly living it

Most of them revolve around family and frinds and how I interact with the world around me..So I give myself a pat on my shoulder and push and a shove to pick myself up and get going.

My initiation into Footy

Start to the night -

Crappy mood!!! Need to cool off! Remote in hand. Flick. Click. Flick. Nothing remotely interesting on the idiot box!! Well it is after all what it is! Click. View from the Top. Click Matrix Reloaded. CLick CLick (getting desperate). Only thing I want reloaded is Keanu Reaves in a different movie on tele..hmmm..Choices. Choices. Choices...Here we go again..Back to footy. Grhhhhh!!!

Yes, I am very unaustralian when it comes to all things footy!! Well frankly, I don't see the point - crazed muscle men running around in tiny shorts trying to rip each other to shreds on a plastic strewn grass field thanks to a howling unruley crowd, interrupting the seagulls from having a quiet moonlit stroll on the lawns of the MCG. Referee whistles. Catch. TACKLE. Throw. PIN-DOWN. Throw. Kick. BUMP. MASS PILE UP. Throw. Kick. SHREAD TO PIECES, Whistle ...and the saga goes on...hmmm..Collingwood, my home team (ok ok my initial aussie home team!) trailing misearbly to the Adelaide Crows.

As the evening wears on -

The temperament changes to be more upbeat at home than at the stadium. Yet another Asussie half-crazed barracker cheering on Collingwood, and there hearlds my initiation into Footy!! GO COLLINGWOODDDDD!!! Collingwood scores a goal. YEAH..(Cheers)..Collingwood scores again.YEAH..(Does a bit of a mad dance n stomp around)...

Calling it a night -

Thrilling match...Collingwood just about scores a win. YAYYYYYYYYYYYY!

Yet another happy little Collingwood fan brays out the Club Song as she heads to bed.

"Good old Collingwood forever,

we know how to play the game.

Side by side we stick together,

to uphold The Magpies name.

Hear the barrackers a shouting,

as all barrackers should,

Oh, the premiership's a cakewalk

For the good old Collingwood."

And the seagulls can look forward to a quiet night at the MCG with the crows taken care of (though the magpies are still a force to contend with!!).

Star Gazing

Watched the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-128) and the International Space Station streak across the evening sky today...

Across the southern cross they came a hurtling with the Space Shuttle docked with the International Space Station. T'was an awesome experience as it covered the vast expanse of the southern sky and bid the moon adieu before dimming into the awakening night sky as it receeded into the distance. And even more memorable to have shared it with a friend. Though I nearly got myself into a tizzy/dizzy spell as I had my eye glued on the sky as I felt the stars being to waltz.

But hold your breath. Also got to witness the Hubble Space Telescope zoom past later in the evening and in turn my neighbours witness a crazed shrouded character with a beeping mobile in hand lurking in the garden staring into space as if willing aliens to come a visting. Had come literally streaking out of the house oddly dressed with two minutes to spare and had to positioned myself near a rustling bush to find my prime spot among the other competing creatures in the garden...but it was well worth it crazed neighbours, astro boy, noisy backyard invaders and all.

Wedding bells

The 28th of August and one of my closest childhood friends, Ms M is finally going to tie the knot on the other side of the globe and and I couldn't be happier for her. 22 years and counting sure brings back lovely memories from the very first day we walked into kindie and decided we were gonna be best pals for life . Will sure miss being there at her wedding to cheer her on as she braves it into a whole new world.

Congrats M, best buddy best pal. Mr F is an incredibly fortunate man to have found you to share the rest of his life with. Here's wishing you guys a lifetime of happiness.

Marley and "Moi" et al.

Sounds of Silence??? Nope am still alive and kicking, in fact screaming, it's hot HOT HOT!!!. Bit of a hot snap this week this side of town, right in the midst of winter....and have successfully started the week by shattering two drinking glasses (another first!!!) this weekend while I was tidying up ...which called for more of that cleaning action... I swept and vaccummed and swabbed the weekend away!!!

Ok so now that I've cooled off and got that off my mind let's continue...So where have I been? What have I been up to? Well, I must confess I'm at it again..Doing what I love best...Have had my nose stuck in a pile of books that I heaved back from the bibliotheque last week. Currently reading "Marley and Me" - still have quite a bit to go but the four legged bundle of mischievousness has got me well and truley hooked....The book has had me crying and laughing at the same time to the point where I seem to be getting strange looks on the train (but not as bad as listening to Hamish and Andy's 'Caravan of Courage' on my way back from work or Labby, Camilla and Stav's gottcha calls!!! another story alltogether..that one!)

Signing off as I helplessly succumb to Marley's antics yet again.....

On a wing and a prayer!!

Friday lunch hour comes a beckoning.
And there goes my tummy a rumbling...
Food for thought much overdue
Just managing to see the day through.
Survivng on a wing and a prayer
Cause am money bare!!!

Yep, took me all of five years to finally walk out the door in the morning without my purse in hand!!!

Conversations with Nature

Spit. Splatter. Splash!
Crash. Clash. Pitter-beat-Patter. BANG and a FLASH.
A thunder storm "un"-quietening the evening as it stops by to say hello!!!

To blog or not to blog? That is the question!!!!

To blog or not to blog? That is the question!! Yes, I've chosen to blog (the occasional blog mind you!!!) I've finally succumbed to it..well n truly smitten by words, random words that I hope I can string into meaning as I weave my story onto my tapestry of life.....

So wish me luck and cheer me on as I make my way into a brave new world. Into the the portals of the blogging kingdom, here I come armed with a an electronic keyboard, random thoughts and an open mind to reframe my past, scrapbook my present and scribe my open book of the future as I color my way across a blank inviting screen :)