What I miss about America...

Shopping.

Source: anthropologie.com via Michelle on Pinterest

I'm in love with the fur jacket.

Source: anthropologie.com via Michelle on Pinterest

Source: shop.nordstrom.com via Michelle on Pinterest

There are other things I miss about America. My friends. Hiking. Mexican food. Thats about it honestly. America is a memory for me with good and bad times. America feels raw for me. End of Saturday morning thoughts. Thank goodness for online shopping :)

Old School NY Diner

This old diner looks rad. I wish I'd checked it out while in NYC.

PRIME from thismustbetheplace on Vimeo.

Video care of This Must Be The Place

Check out the video. Its a few minutes long, but well worth the watch.

Song of the Day

Love this song. A good start to my day and week:-

Bike

I've been wanting a nice bike for some time. I know I'd have to invest a fair amount to get a very good bike - and that is not on the cards just now. But here is a bike that is a little more budget friendly that I'm looking at. Laybuy perhaps?!

Source: ebay.com.au via Michelle on Pinterest

First Aid Kit - Emmylou

Saturday morning and we slept in. We woke up to showers so decided to stay in. Its amazing how quickly time passes when you're doing nothing...

I love the voices of First Aid Kit and have been listening to them a fair bit lately.

Fall at your feet

One of my all-time favourite songs:-

Me, You, Tea for Two

Today is my day off. I'm giving myself one day off each week and dedicating it to housework, planning things out, study etc. The other two days are for other enjoyments. It feels so luxurious only working two days a week! Although this week I'm working more than that, training in the city.

So today. I've got to make a plan. I already went grocery shopping. I hit up Burwood for Chinese sauces and groceries. Rhodes for vegetables and Five Dock for meat. I love that here I get to go to independent stores for what I want. It means meat and veges are fresher, and a better price. I also love that I have the time to do this now.

So, at the moment I'm indulging in a cup of coffee via my beautiful new cup and saucer. I use this cup and saucer when I'm taking a moment to relax. Its only a small thing, but makes me happy. Here's the cup and saucer:-

Source: kettlesdirect.com.au via Michelle on Pinterest

This cup and saucer was released by Maxwell Williams in a variety of shades. I was tempted to buy all five shades, but decided it is enough to have just one fun cup of my own. Besides, I just moved country and am a little broke right now. I have a penchant for cups and plan on slowly building a collection over time, only when I see something I truly love. This is another reason I decided on only getting one of the Maxwell Williams Kimono range - its a special piece, and I want to enjoy it.

So today I have to find some motivation. I already have the laundry going. I'm thinking it would be good to go for a fast one hour walk. Read a little. Tidy up my clothes and wash floors. Perhaps get a massage for my shoulder.

Congratulations

Song of the day! I heard this on Triple J today and really liked it. I'm surprised I haven't heard it before. It is very Beatles-esque in my opinion.

You Broke My Cool!

This morning I hit up Newtown. Newtown is such an interesting part of Sydney with lots of random shops. Music stores, vintage clothing, art supplies, organic food and lots of really good restaurants. This morning I went to Max Brenner and had a cappuccino - they drizzle melted chocolate over the foam. mmm.

One shop that caught my eye was Mag Nation. I was very excited walking in. They have the most amazing array of magazines. Magazines that people can never get their hands on - one I saw there was "Lula" magazine which girls are always on the hunt for. I finally got to flick through it. It wasn't my style fashion magazine. The pictures are very beautiful. But I'm more a fan of European and American high end fashion magazines. I love the editorials. So I browsed the fashion magazines for a while, being good and not buying anything. I really wanted to grab a copy of US Elle, US Vogue and Paris Vogue - but couldn't justify the prices. I headed upstairs where there are leather lounges so you can sit and read. There were huge sections of food, fashion, photography and music magazines. Heaven! I sat and read some music and food magazines and ended up indulging in The New Yorker, BBC Music (it has the 50 greatest recordings of all time! - had to get it!) and a magazine called "Sight and Sound" - an international film magazine. It features the best films of 2011 and reviews every new film. Eeeek! Exciting! I'm eager to pour into them. I love the New Yorker. Well written and intelligent articles. I've always enjoyed BBC Music Magazine. I was tempted to get Triple J's magazine, but figure I listen to their radio station a lot - so that is enough for the time being.

I've been hearing good things about "The Separation". I'm eager to see it.

Here's a song I heard this morning which I liked. Pond is Triple J's band of the month, so I'm sure I'll be hearing a lot more from them. "You Broke My Cool"

Islands - "Hallways"

This song makes me want to dance

"Housework Day"

Thats right. Today is housework day. Its a mix of housework and fun. Listening to music, reading blogs, and cleaning. And its pouring with rain outside! What a great day to be home! I heard that Sydney's dam is set to overflow today. Its been raining that much!

Its amazing how disheveled my house gets in just a few days. Its not beyond repair, it will take a few solid hours and it will be clean, neat and dusted.

This week I started my new job. I'm so excited. I'm working for a trading company in the heart of Sydney's CBD.

I've made some new friends in Sydney. One friend I just started hanging out with this week in particular seems really fun. I like her a lot. She is a swedish girl, and we laugh a lot together. I'm intrigued by how we connect with certain people in life. Some people you get instantly. You feel cool around them, feel yourself - unjudged. Then there's people you don't connect with so much. When that happens I find myself being very quiet. Then there's people you can be loud, obnoxious and silly with. There - thats my epiphany for the day ;) I need to stop procrastinating and do some cleaning...

Here's a song I'm loving at the moment:-

" I don't want to make money, I just want to be wonderful."

This famous quote is by none other than Marilyn Monroe. In America I had a framed print of Marilyn with that quote on it. Last night I went to see "My Week With Marilyn" with a couple of friends. I wanted to see it regardless, but I *really* wanted to see it before watching the Oscars. Yesterday I taped The Oscars, but our cable sucks and it kept cutting out. So last night we downloaded it and I'm eager to watch it. Possibly this afternoon. If not this afternoon, then tonight. I'm still avoiding most forms of media - which means no TV, no Facebook, no radio. I don't want to hear the winners until I see The Oscars for myself. I'm very excited about it all, and am planning on writing notes about the awards ceremony - the skits, the banter, who won, outfits etc and then calling up my friend - who is equally as excited about The Oscars as I am, and having a good chat about it.
My votes? I'm betting on the following:-

Best Picture:- The Artist
Best Actress:- Meryl Streep
Best Actor:- George Clooney
Best costume/wardrobe:- My week with Marilyn
Best Makeup:- Iron Lady
Best Supporting Actress:- The lady from The Help, whose name I have forgotten, and I don't want to google her name - just in case!

Often Bio's win a lot of awards. But I hear Hugo (which I'm yet to see) is up for a tonne of nominations too - and I hear its excellent, but I still haven't seen it. (Maybe this afternoon!). I'm yet to watch The Descendants and Hugo. I've seen a lot of Oscar Nominated movies this year:- The Artist (loved), My Week With Marilyn, The Help, The Iron Lady, Midnight in Paris. The other day I was gracious enough to see The Vow with my Mum. I didn't hate it, but its also not my kind of movie. Its a cheesy, predictable romantic comedy. Its saving grace is that its a true story - so that gave it some credibility. And yeah, Rachel McAdams is cute. It was ok for a romantic comedy. I didn't go in expecting a super punchy storyline. For what it was, it was good.

As to movies I've seen - I really enjoyed The Artist, The Help and Midnight in Paris.

So, back to My Week with Marilyn. I don't enjoy Marilyn Monroe's persona, I've always found her a little annoying. She played the damsel in distress. She was brilliant, but not my kinda woman. I've never been a huge fan of her movies. I like a couple of them, but overall she's not one of my favorite actresses. As for My Week with Marilyn, I thought Michelle Williams played her perfectly. Michelle Williams is one talented, and beautiful actress. I loved the costumes and dialogue. All in all it was incredibly well done. I think last night when I saw it I was tired and not in the mood. I'd watch it again - but I didn't love the movie in the same way I loved The Artist, which I'll be able to watch over and over again.

Laugh Kookaburra Laugh

I haven't blogged in a while, but I have my reasons.

We've been back "down under" for a month now. I'm still coming to grips with being home. It feels surreal. It still hasn't sunk in that I'm actually (finally) home. Do I miss America? I get asked that a lot. I'm a horrible liar. I should work at being more gracious. I don't hate America is my honest answer. But I resent that I lived there so long. I don't say that part, only on my blog. I talk about the things that I enjoyed about America. The truth is we stayed past my living-in-America-threshold. My feeling is that I never want to live there again, only visit.

People keep saying things like "you must be ecstatic to be home". I am. It also feels incredibly normal. It doesn't feel like I never left. I do feel like I was away a long time, and changed somewhat. The way I think has changed. I'm grateful to have had such an amount of exposure to another culture.

So since being home I've delighted in the little things. Hearing kookaburra's at random hours. Hearing cicadas singing when I wake up in the morning. The beautiful beaches, and hearing the thick Aussie accent all the time. The Aussie accent still sounds very foreign to me - I haven't been home long enough ;)

At the moment we're busy moving into our new apartment. We've secured a nice little two bedroom home by a lovely park. Today we bought a couch and wardrobe, the other day a mattress. The wardrobe was $30 and absolutely huge! Its for the spare room. We're planning on using it as a coat closet. It was a very big wardrobe to move! We're going to have to start working really soon! Our money isn't worth as much as we'd hoped over here!

I will write more when I'm less tired and feeling more inspired. For now I'm still feeling like I'm getting back into the groove of things. Its a strange, but altogether very nice feeling.