“Nothing in fine print is ever good news.” - Andy Rooney

Except for this. Daniel's Visa was approved! Its happening! Now we're waiting on his little brother to get hitched. He has a month to get engaged (we have not told him this). If it hasn't happened within a month we're not going to stick around. No pressure bro... However we can't plan our lives around his brother.

A move overseas is a little daunting but incredibly exciting. Its not a do-over. But a new start. Sometimes I think back to the kid who left Sydney at 26 years old. That kid has grown up a little, gotten a little more worldly wise - and dare I say it a little American. 5 years in a place will that to ya. I think I used to live inside a bubble. I felt like a kid and it was great. Now, I still feel like a kid at times, but the world seems like a different place now. I wonder how much I'll settle back into my old patterns once on home turf.

Today I was walking on the beach. Summer in SoCal is beautiful. The sand is dirty, but the water is pretty clear. My friend Janelle and I walk together about 2 times a week and have a good chin wag. She's a swell gal and I know my Aussie mates are going to love her. She's an ENFP if any of my friends are reading this. I've realised that a lot of my close-close friends are the ENF's. I'm an ENTP. I haven't met many girls who are an ENTP. Most I've met are SF's or NF's. Although I think my cousin is an INTP - similar to me.

Anyway, we have a few American friends who are just waiting for our move so they can make the trip out to Oz. It'll be fun doing the Blue Mountains thing, camping and introducing them to friends.

Saturday night I made a couple of batches of curry and we had friends over. I like this time of year. We come out of our hibernation and get a little more hospitable. We're yet to have beach bonfires down at the beach. hopefully soon....

In the meantime I'm going to start using Aussie words again. Otherwise I'll get shredded when we're home. Ketchup? what's ketchup? oh, you mean tomato sauce buddy ;) (i mean "mate")

And it was called yellow

I'm at work and suddenly I felt quite chipper. Maybe it was the realization that in 45 mins I can go to lunch, buy a cadbury twirl bar, go to favourite coffee shop and drink tea. Its raining moderately and is cool here in SoCal today. I'm grateful for the change in weather. I brought my bright blue rain coat in so I can walk around at lunchtime in the rain. Pity I forgot my Hunter rain boots.

I haven't really bought anything in a long time. Other than tee shirts from American Apparel last week. I hate the company and everything they represent, but I love their tee shirts. Go figure. Anyway, I came across this trench coat. What a great shade of yellow. I can imagine walking around Sydney in this jacket in the rain and feeling quite pleased with myself.

Kakadu You!

I've been reading a lot of decorating blogs lately and have a huge file of pictures for inspiration. I'm really excited to finally move into a new apartment and decorate it as I like. Our apartment we are in right now is just lovely, very cute, quaint and full of colour, which I like. However I'm ready to put my heart into decorating. Not necessarily spending a lot of money, but slowly over time adding things that I like. I don't feel the need to fill our new apartment (to be) with furniture straight away. Rather to get something for the apartment if it sings to me. I'm not getting a couch until I find one I'm in love with. We'll buy a mattress straight away. But we'll be using cardboard boxes and borrowed fold out chairs until we find things that work (aka that I like). I'm so excited for the impending and ongoing project that is coming up. We didn't do a whole lot with the apartment we're in, knowing that we'd eventually leave. We also didn't realize we'd live here a full five years. We thought it would be 2 years. Time flies though.

It looks like we're set to leave the US at the end of the year. We were planning on leaving in September, but my brother inlaw and his girlfriend will probably marry around October/November time. We want to be here for their engagement and see them when they get back.

I'm so excited for many things. I'm itching to get a dog or (hypoallergenic!) cat. I need something to love and take care of. I've been telling my husband he'd better let me get a pet soon, before I start saying I want children! haha. But in all seriousness, the need to love and care for something, whether a child or pet kicks in for many women at around 30. Right now, all I want is a pet. A medium sized dog and I'll be happy.

We were talking about Australia last night and exploring the unknown country. So much of its unknown to me. We're hoping our friend Nathan comes out in the next 2 years. We're planning on going to Kakadu to go camping. Then visit Broome and the north of Western Australia, possibly driving south to Perth, through Monkey Mia and then Geraldton. We'd need a good 3 weeks for that. The thought of being in the bush, by beautiful gorges in the blistering heat thrills me. In the north of WA there are the most amazing thunderstorms in the afternoon. Especially in the wet season. The sky turns a brilliant shade of purple. It starts to rain lightly yet its warm outside. The rain is a relief. In the distance the sky gets angry and you're on a dirt road with dirt thats almost red in colour. You're surrounded by the bush and see the occasional kangaroo or emu. I remember driving away from such thunderstorms, and emu's passing us while we drive in the landcruiser. Australia is the most beautiful country that I'm still in love with. I've never gotten it out of my system. I was talking about it to a gal I'd just met. She said "you'll stay here. people always end up staying in california". She asked me about Australia and what its like. I described the outback and the beaches. She smiled and said "sounds like you'll go home. Your heart is still there". While I'm looking forward to living in Sydney, its WA that I want to explore. Its so untouched. The beaches there are incredible. They are different to beaches on the East Coast of Australia. The water is clearer, the sand whiter, and they are much less populated.



I'm not saying living in Australia will be perfect. It'll be a nice change though. There's no place like home. I'm feeling hesitant to leave America in some ways. 5 years is a big chunk of my life. I love certain things about it here. But I'm eager for change. For the unknown.

Putting our roots down finally will be nice, instead of feeling so temporary. I think I lived so "temporarily" here because I wanted to feel like I was going home "next year". It was always next year. And now it finally is this year. Granted at the end of the year!

Tomorrow's a new day, with no mistakes

Tonight my heart broke a little and I'm feeling a mixture of emotions. One of my closest friends has had a painful experience. I have been where she's at and know that no matter how much I try to be there, its going to take time to heal wounds. When you're close with someone you feel a little of what they're feeling. You can't help but take on some of those emotions, and feel indignation on their behalf, sadness and wanting to comfort as much as you can. My friend is a beautiful person, and I know she'll be just fine. Its just hard right now.

Tonight Daniel and I finished all our Australian paperwork. We're sending it to the Australian Immigration Dept tomorrow. I have such mixed feelings. I feel very emotional about it all. I don't want to leave my friends and the people I love here. I can't imagine my day to day life without certain people in it. But at the same time I'm ready to be back in Australia. I can hardly imagine what it will be like to be home again. I'm glad that I lived here making the most of this experience. I feel like I had a few moments of homesickness, but they were just a few moments compared to the actual amount of time I have spent here. We've had some wonderful times here. I feel that all in all I took what I could and ran with it. Its my intent to make the next six months here really count. To love it, and enjoy it thoroughly. To leave with a bang. By the time we leave I'll have lived here 5 years. Thats a big part of my life, and it will always be with me. A small part of me is just a little (only a little!) Californian ;) Although I wouldn't freely admit that in person (only on the internet!).

Despite my friend's sadness, I had the most lovely day with her and other friends. We babysat for a friend and had an awesome time with their son, a wonderful child with an interesting and lively personality. I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon we had with him. What a great day.

Photorama

Here's a couple of photos from our family photo session taken last month.

Flowers in the Window

Today was a perfectly lovely day. My day off. It was sunny and warm in Socal. It was nice to have a bright day and have the chance to be outdoors. I went out with friends in the morning. When we were done at noon I went over to Trader Joe's and got a salad. Sat by the pier and enjoyed the sun and slight breeze. After that went for my massage. I've been getting massages once a week since we got back from our big trip. My shoulder still isn't doing well. I'm avoiding an operation like the plague! I seem to maintain the pain ok with physical therapy and massage. Expensive yes. I'm afraid an operation could cause other problems. Anyway after my massage went home, made dinner (bbq pulled pork sandwiches with corn on the cob on the side - very American!) then went to the gym. A change in pace today was so nice. I'm feeling a little stressed and am not enjoying my job right now. I know we all go through that feeling. My job is difficult, and I struggle understanding some things about it sometimes. I'm in IT and its not something I find super easy. I go through my ups and downs and work - like we all day! Needless to say, days like today and the weekends prove to be such a nice relief. The change in pace is always so welcome, and to be outside. Daniel often wants to do things inside like play boardgames, watch tv. On the weekends all I want is to be outside! So maybe I'll organize a hike in the next couple of weekends.

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