Through the Years We All Will Be Together, If the Fates Allow

I've taken an unplanned hiatus from blogging recently . I've had things to write about, but not the drive to write them down. When I was unemployed and by myself all day long most days of the week, any little event seemed worth chronicling, but now that I have a job that I have to get up and go to I am too damn tired to write most nights once I'm home and I feel like the little things aren't as interesting to blog about (Do you really want to hear about my week on the phones like how one lady called me an idiot, another guy yelled at me and told my manager I should be fired, even though I followed privacy laws/company policy to a T, how I nearly acquired a Nigerian boyfriend, and how one lady turned on and off the water works and asked why I had brought up her baby that had died years ago from SIDS (which for the record, I obviously hadn't)? Hey, now that I've given the brief overview of my week on the phones, it actually does seem kind of entertaining!).

I guess the other thing that has kept me from blogging recently is that part of my tag line is about living Down Under and "having the time of my life." Recently living here has felt like more of a chore than an adventure. I'm not putting my degree to use, we live in a shack, I drive an hour to work one way while MOTH Dude takes the train two hours in the other direction everyday, and I'm missing my family like crazy.

Call me stupid, crazy, delusional, whatever, but I never thought I'd have to miss out on having the holidays with my family. Thanksgiving was depressing enough, going to work as if it was just any other day, and to think of Christmas without my family is like a knife in the heart (Oh man, sorry for sounding like some emo 15 year old, but that's what it feels like!). Add to that Nae's murky departure date for South Africa and I'm just a little ball of emotion thinking about my family right now.

The thing is, I've felt really guilty for not blogging, even though at this point I'm pretty well convinced I have about two readers-not even my Mom is following along these days! Most days, if I make it awake past dinner time, I do think about writing an entry but I haven't had anything positive to say. I think I just need to get through the holidays and I'll be better. Until I am, I'm giving myself the permission to take the pressure off. I don't have to blog if I don't have anything nice to say and maybe without the guilt, I'll suddenly feel like writing a whole lot again.

Fingers crossed I snap out of this funk sometime soon because, if not for MOTH Dude, the bumper sticker I keep seeing "If You Don't Love It (Australia), Leave It" is starting to make a lot of sense to me.

I'll Be Home for Christmas...

Except I won't be.

It also doesn't look like it is worth it for my family to come out here after Christmas to visit me either. I assumed there would be no way in Hell I'd be able to take a month off around Christmas being the low man on the totem pole at my new job, but I never imagined that from a week or so before Christmas all the way to the beginning of February would be off limits! But they are. I also found out that although I may only be scheduled for 20 hours a week, I won't ever be able to bang those out over, say, three 7 hour shifts; I'll be expected to work five 4 hour shifts. So if my family came out, I wouldn't be able to take a week or two off, like I was planning, to hang out and maybe go to Tasmania or drive the Great Ocean Road with them and I also wouldn't be able to get my work done early in the week on the other weeks they are here and then have Thursday and Friday to play tour guide.

I was so upset when I found this out on Tuesday. I've never not had a Christmas with my family to begin with, but I had prepared myself for that, and thought I'd just have a later Christmas celebration with them*, and then to find out that that wasn't really even an option, I wanted to cry. Then a few people in my training group start talking about how they were told we weren't allowed to take any time off over the next 12 months of our contract, I really did start to cry when I called MOTH on my lunch break to fill him in! I talked to the trainer later that afternoon and the good news is is that we are allowed to take vacation after we have been at the company for 6 months so yesterday I got her to block out most of May for me and that is when I will be going home. I can't believe I will have to wait a year (from when I flew out here) to see my family again, but I guess it's better than not being able to see them for a year and 3 months!

So yeah, not a good start to the week really, but I'm trying to deal with it and a lot can happen between now and December so we'll see what happens. On a positive, I already got paid on Wednesday and will be using part of that money to buy some more work clothes this weekend since I've realized 1) I don't have a ton of clothes to begin with and 2) Hardly any of the stuff I do have is "work wear". Tomorrow or Sunday MOTH and I are hopefully going to go have a look at a family friend's mother's car and hopefully it will be the one for me. All I know so far is that it's a late 90s Subaru, it's an automatic, and the price is right. MOTH and I have said for years now that we want a Subaru Outback when we can afford one so it'll be sweet to start working our way up through the Subaru models now!

*MOTH's immediate family doesn't celebrate Christmas for religious reasons so it's not a situation where you can say "Suck it up D, lots of people have to rotate Christmas between each spouse's family," there just won't be a Christmas celebration at all, at least not with his parents or brother, though I'm hoping he'll still want to celebrate with me.

And I Will Consider You Gone

If you hadn't guessed from my description of all the gifts I got for Christmas, my family shows its love with stuff. We're not super shallow or anything, we just aren't all lovey dovey, smoochie boochie, either, so it's a tangible manifestation of our love for each other. I dunno, it works for me. Don't get me wrong, I tell my family I love them all the time and they tell me so, too, but it's nice to be using my Christmas presents back in Australia and be reminded of the giver and how much they care about me.

Today was my last day at work and it was a pretty busy one for me. I had to get everything in order so that the regular person could jump back in to doing my work seamlessly. It was sad to say good bye to everyone. It was a fun place to work and I will miss all the people I got to know there. I plan on sending them a post card from Aus and on contacting them again next year to see if they need any holiday help. Pacific Cookie Company was a great place to work and the Pearsons were great people to work for. I think my waistline will thank me for not working there, but other than that I'm going to miss it!

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

This is Nae in the process of cutting down our Christmas tree a few weeks back.

So far mine has been very, very merry!

The gnocchi last night turned out just ok, but I'll post pictures and the process in the coming days anyway to see if you guys can top my effort.

I know Christmas is about love, and family and all that good stuff, but I got awesome presents, too, including a new digital camera! So, see, it's a present to you guys in a way, as well, because now maybe this site will actually get some nice pics rather than shaky, blurry, and dark pictures from my camera phone. I also got clothes and books and jewelry, and a girls' day with Mom and Nae to do Zumba and get pedicures and out to a family dinner, a new purse made by Stylez at ReJENerate (check the link at the top of my page), a Zhu Zhu (you know, one of those little movable hamsters that were supposed to be all the rage for little kids this year? Dad got us each one and it is totally freaking out the cat as they run around and make cheeping noises) and a ticket to Brand New from Boyfriend which I was nearly crying over because I am so excited to finally see them after being rained out during the great Newcastle flood the last time they were in Australia. (Elsja, they are playing in March in Sydney. Get a ticket if it's not sold out already!)

Now, I'm being super classy and drinking Malibu with some tangerine juice from Trader Joe's and sitting in the sun and reading. (And yes, I know Malibu is little kid's alcohol and is not sophisticated like wine, but I can drink it super cold and it tastes good mixed with stuff so whatever.) It's probably in the high 60s here today and gorgeous out.

Hope you all have had or are having a wonderful day with your family and loved ones. I really couldn't have asked for a better day today.

There's a Baby, Yes, There's a Baby About to be Born

This picture really has nothing to do with this post (Boyfriend took it on our trip to Yosemite the first year he was here) but it's a great shot and looks wintery and it's Christmas, damnit, so it kind of works, right?

Unless we've missed the text with the birth announcement, Soccer Player and the Hairdresser are still awaiting the birth of their baby. I'm hoping now that the Hairdresser has gone over her due date, she won't have to go camping with the newborn on Boxing Day (or as soon as it's born if it's after that day), as was previously planned. All of our friends who have had babies so far have tried to tell her that camping with a brand new baby is not where you want to be when you've just gotten out of the hospital and are trying to figure out how to be a mom still, but the Hairdresser is a trooper and up til now has said she is going. I can't wait to hear what they've had and what they've named it and I can't wait to buy it a "Welcome to the World" outfit here to bring back with me. I wonder if she's in labor, as I write this, and is having a Christmas baby? That'd be pretty neat, but probably not the most fun Christmas the Hairdresser would ever have! Anyway, I'm sending my love and my prayers down to you guys. I hope that it is a quick and painless delivery and recovery and Boyfriend and I can't wait to meet the new little guy or girl when we are back.

In other news, Mom and Dad both got sick last week and are still getting knocked around by it. We're pretty sure that Mom has come down with the Swine, while Dad's cold or flu seems to be different. They had a not so successful, but very stressful, trip down to Orange County last weekend to see my grandparents. If you read the last post (Runaway Train) about the situation, the update is nothing has changed and it has actually gotten a lot worse. Not only is my Grandpa on a quick downhill slope, to the point where my Mom thinks we'll be having a funeral before I go back in February, but now my Grandma is falling apart, too. She's gotten in two accidents in two different cars, side swiping a total of 5 cars, in two consecutive Wednesday nights! My Mom is understandably upset by what is going on, but on both trips she's taken to see them my grandparents have ignored the help she's offered so there's not much for her to do. The light at the end of the tunnel is that my Mom has found an assisted living place in Stockton that has apartments on site that allow the tennants to keep a small animal. My Grandma's brothers all live in Stockton and we've been saying for a few years now that she and my Grandpa should move of up there so they have more people to hang out with so once he passes away we think Grandma should take her dog and move to this facility. It's a good option because she is still capable of living mostly on her own for now and she can still keep her dog, but if and when she declines, she can then move in to the main part of the facility that offers more round-the-clock care. I think she really misses her brothers and this way she can see them more often, too.

Happy Holidays, right?

Other than that, our little 5some of me, Boyfriend, Mom, Dad, and Nae are looking forward to spending Christmas together. I've had all my Christmas shopping done for a few days now and only have a few things left to wrap. Boyfriend is stressed because lots of his online ordered presents haven't arrived yet. Nae is at work now (Trader Joe's) and has a taco eating contest with her coworkers and then she's coming over to make Christmas cookies and spend the night. Boyfriend and I said way back in October that we'd like to try and make gnocchi for Christmas Eve dinner so we'll get that under way this afternoon and hopefully take some good pictures for you guys and I'll post up the recipes. Nae's in charge of the food tomorrow and she's making some kind of roast beast, yorkshire pudding, homemade ice cream, and other stuff so I probably won't fit in to any of my new Christmas clothes after the 24 hours of eating I'm about to undertake! The weather here is bright and sunny and the air is crisp so I think we'll probably get up and do presents tomorrow morning and then go for a family walk and then just hang out for the rest of the day. I like having a mellow Christmas like that.

What about you? Is all your shopping and wrapping done? Are you having a mellow or a stressful Christmas Eve/Day?

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! Hope you get everything you've asked for and more!

The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows

Sorry if you've stopped by hoping for a new post this week. I've been swamped at work so by the time I get home and make dinner for everyone, I'm pretty much ready to lay on my bed and talk to Boyfriend for a bit before passing out. Nevertheless, I'm really liking it. Sure, a lot of the stuff I do is repetitive, but the people I work with are really great and make being there enjoyable. It's funny all the random connections I've found out I have to people in my office, considering that I'm not even from this area and know one other person besides my family here!

I'm stoked because I've been asked to come in for the Monday after Christmas to help sort out all the delivery mishaps that happen Christmas Eve that we won't be in to deal with. A) It means a little bit more money and B) It means I get to hang out with everyone for one more day. I think that I will ask the family to keep me in mind for office help next Christmas Season, if they'll have me, because I have always enjoyed working for family businesses....there's and at Jack's.

Everyone has really flattered me at the office over the past few days, too, because I have been bringing in treats and they said the cupcakes I brought in yesterday were so good that I should think about going in to business with them. Which is funny because before Boyfriend got here Mom, Dad, and I were discussing that I should start a bake stand since Australia has a shitty selection of baked goods and I really enjoy baking. So I think I'm going to start trying to sell my baked goods on the weekends and on days when I don't get substitute teaching work and see how that goes (but I might wait until after the hottest days of summer are over before I start so that my frosting actually stays on the cupcakes rather than melting in to a puddle next to the cupcakes)!

Anyway, it's a dream, an adventure, and something to look forward to so we'll see how it pans out. Boyfriend seems a little sketchy on the idea because he's got his fingers crossed that I'll fall in to a full time job, or at least get a lot more substitute work, this year and can actually start pulling my weight with the bills. Which is completely understandable. He isn't my sugar daddy, as much as I joke that he is, and I would like for us to have equal roles in the money making. But having this as a side project and as a way to make at least a few bucks on days when I don't get called in to a school can't hurt, can it? He's willing to let me have a shot at it for now and that's all I can ask of him. When I am Australia's answer to Paula Deen (or who's a hotter TV show chef, isn't there someone cute named Giada or something?), he'll be glad that he gave me some support on this business venture!

Tomorrow Nae, Boyfriend and I are shopping it up at the Gilroy Outlet Mall. We still need to find some things for our Mom and there are also Hurley, Volcom, Quiksilver, and Billabong stores there that Boyfriend will probably want to stop in to and stock up on clothes for the year from. We'll probably also make ourselves sick on Animal Style Burgers (or Grilled Cheeses) and Fries at some point in the day because right next to the mall is the only In-N-Out anywhere close to where we live. It should make for an exhausting day! Sunday, I might go in and help at the office if they need me, for a couple of hours and if not, I think I will sleep in, take a nap, wash my work clothes, and finish up my DeFacto Spouse Visa paperwork (by the way-if anyone has any tips, tricks, or words of advice on the Visa paperwork, I'd be glad to hear it) and then it is the final, big push until Christmas at work. I get Christmas Eve off and I think Boyfriend and I are going to attempt to make homemade gnocchi that night.

So I guess, really, when I sit down and think/write about it, things aren't as quiet as I thought they've been around here!

Hope you aren't too cold/too hot (depending on your Hemisphere) where ever you're reading this from and that you have a fun and relaxing weekend ahead of you...

P.S. I'm sure it's not too late to buy your favorite blogger (that's me) something amazing from her Amazon wish list or to send her a big, fat check for keeping you mildly amused over the course of most of the last year. Just a suggestion! ;D

Oh, Cookie, Cookie, Cookie Starts with C

Image via PacificCookie.com

Blogging from my lunch break again. I'm back on the diet, or at least back on the no cookie diet, which is really, really hard when I sit here and smell them baking all day! Our cookies are good, and I mean really good. They've got this fat kid's seal of approval on them.

I just thought I'd let you guys know that some of our gift items are on sale and there is also a coupon code floating around for $5 off an order right now so there are some great deals to be had. Cookies are a great item for anyone on your list you're having trouble shopping for because who doesn't like cookies!? We've got 13 different flavors of cookies to choose from (I'm a chocolate girl so I like the chocolate chip, chocolate chip peanut butter, and dark chocolate cranberry-an awesome fall/winter flavor-the best, but I wouldn't turn down any of these cookies if they were offered to me).

I know, I know, I bet you are thinking this is starting to sound like an ad for Pacific Cookie Company, but I'm not getting paid extra to write about it and no one here asked me to do it. I just really like the cookies, it's close to Christmas, and there are some hard people on my list to shop for, like I'm sure there are on yours, who would probably enjoy some cookies, and some of the stuff is on sale so I thought, "Why not fill you guys in?"

Working here has also made me realize that my parents probably don't love me enough because they've never sent me a cookie basket to wish me luck on my finals, like I've seen lots of parents order for their kids here!

Let Me Entertain You

The girls at work were laughing today about how I handle calling in to the FedEx call center. I started my day fairly jovial, but challenged the call center people when I needed to (i.e. "My sister works at Trader Joe's so I know they aren't closed at 4pm on a Wednesday night so why didn't my package get delivered?") and progressed to being a little less jovial through out the day (i.e. "That's Bash St. as in I'll bash your head in" which I swear I said in a laughing way and a "Why did you put me on hold to enter information about my file when you haven't even asked me what I'm calling about and therefore have nothing to enter?" which was said in a not so joking manner). Everyone was giving me the side eye like I was crazy or laughing as they listened in to my calls and were also impressed that I found out that I was talking to people in call centers in El Salvador, Chihuahua Mexico, and Chicago, as they said they had never talked to anyone from FedEx outside the States before. At least I'm making their day and mine more entertaining. If I have to sit for a few hours a day on the phone with FedEx I may as well amuse myself while I do it!

On an unrelated note: I really feel like I'm living in the country here. On my drive home tonight I heard this on the traffic report- "Watch for a deer darting in and out of traffic near the Porter Street exit"!!

On another unrelated note, but to catch you all up with what's been going on over the past few days- Boyfriend arrived safe and sound yesterday and is still pretty exhausted from his big journey. He and Dad "treasure hunted" today and came back with about 2 dollars worth of coins and they also went to Costco so he had a true typical day around here.

It was great to finally have him here and to just be hanging out again. Me, Mom, and Dad took him out to dinner at a Mexican food place around here and Boyfriend was already practicing his Spanish that was provided on a placemat. When we got home, Nae was waiting to welcome him back, too, so I think he had a really nice first night back with all of us.

This weekend we are going up the mountain to cut down our Christmas tree and go to the boat parade at Santa Cruz Harbor...it should all be really fun and festive!

I Miss You, I Miss You

I just got off the phone with Mom and we realized there are only 6 weeks until I am back home in CA now! The time between now and then will just fly by and I can't wait to see my family again. It'll have been nearly 9 months since I was last with them and that is about my limit of away time. When I leave, I'll be conflicted because it means nearly 2 months without Boyfriend and I'll miss him that whole time, too. That's really the life of an expat, no matter where you are, you are always missing someone you love, and because home is in two places, you are always missing one version of home, too. Here's a list of the things I am looking forward to once back in CA and a few things I'll miss when I'm there:

Getting to be in the same room with my family and hanging out and not just being on the phone with them while they are preparing Sunday dinner.

Getting to see family and old friends.

Getting to see Mom and Dad's new San Francisco apartment.

Hanging out at the beach house.

Feeling like a real family again.

Feeling normal again-not the weird American girl who says things funny and has interesting ideas on how life should work

Free refills and non-sweetened ice tea anywhere I go

Coupons for grocery shopping

Decently priced food and clothing

Old Navy, Target, H&M, American Eagle, Ann Taylor Loft, the Gilroy Outlet Malls, Trader Joe's, Safeway

Clothes that actually fit me, ditto for bras/sizes I understand

Cool Whip

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Sourdough Bread

Bisquick Mix

Real Mexican food

Sand dollars, sea otters, and sea lions

Costco

Beach walks with my Mom

Hanging out with my Sister

Treasure hunting with my Dad

Exploring the coast when Boyfriend comes

Chopping down our own Christmas tree

Hanging out in the living room watching the ocean while it rains and having a nice fire burning

Lots of variety at the grocery store

Being able to go to the grocery store or any store past 6pm

Cheap books

Watching trashy tv in real time, rather than downloading it or getting a series 3 years late (ala Gossip Girl being on Season 1 here right now)

Stocking up on all the things I need/miss through the year like clothes, makeup, and food

Getting a job and making some money

Celebrating my first Halloween in 5 years, even if they don't get trick-or-treaters way out at the beach house

Cheap manicures, pedicures, and eyebrow waxes

Pedicures where they can mess with your cuticles (they aren't allowed to trim them here, it's against the law or something...cuticle cutting is one of the best parts of the whole thing, too!)

Things I will miss about Australia:

Boyfriend

Beach walks with Boyfriend

Waking up to Boyfriend's bright and smiley face everyday

Boyfriend's family and bbq's with all the cousins and aunts and uncles

Seeing LC and Lo and their dog Bas a few times a week

Not getting to go to the Hairdresser's baby shower/see her when her baby is first born

All of our friends, especially our adventures with Croc and the Teacher

Getting to see what happens in our garden that Boyfriend's Dad is going to give us seedlings for

You Oughta Know

I'm a little worried posting this...you might read it and never come back! I guess it's a risk I'm willing to take because I thought it was fun and funny to write and hey, you guys deserve to know all about the big dork I really am! So here it goes:

10 Things You Didn't Know About Little D (aka 10 Things You Didn't Want/Need to Know About Little D)

1)I hate flying. It's two months out from my trip home and I'm already thinking about the flight and dreading it. When I book flights I think to myself "Am I sealing my fate? Did I just pick the one flight that week that is going to go down? Should I rebook? But then what if that's the one that goes down?" I used to be prescribed Xanax for flying because I get that nervous. I'd still take it, but I don't have anyone to prescribe it to me anymore. Weird habit for someone who chooses to live thousands of miles away from their family, thus ensuring at least two 14 hour flights home a year, right?

2) I freak out in crowds. I hate people touching me, being too close to me, blocking my way when i've got things to do...whether it's picking out movies or grocery shopping, I panic or get really pissed off and it's a toss up on any given day which it'll be between panicked or pissy. This amuses Boyfriend to no end and he sometimes laughs about how frustrated I get and other times he's really nice and can foresee when the crowds are going to get to me and gets me out of the situation as quickly as possible.

3) I became a vegetarian for a few years starting at age 11 because Jonathon Taylor Thomas did an interview in Teen Beat or some magazine like that where he said he'd only ever date a fellow vegetarian. I didn't know when or where I'd meet JTT but I wanted to have at least that one thing going for me if we ever did meet and he suddenly wanted to date me!

4) I used to have OCD (self diagnosed, but whatever, minor detail) as a child, probably around the age of 10-11 and everything I had to do had to be even....if I ate a bite of food and chewed it on my left side, well then my right side and in the middle had to have a bite chewed there as well. I had to eat an even number of chips or crackers or whatever, I had to flip a switch 2 times or 4 times, but never 1 or 3 times....I wanted things to be fair and I didn't want to hurt these inanimate objects' feelings....One day I finally realized that my little ticks were taking over and decided to try and stop them. I still catch myself from time to time moving different bites of food across my mouth so that things are fair and even, but for the most part I was able to unteach myself my OCD habits. The one thing that I still do(and it's funny given my love of all things being even, I think it has something with me wanting life to be fair and my Mom telling me constantly when I was little that "Life's not fair.") is that I have to wake up on an odd numbered time...the number has to end in a 1, 3, 7, or 9....I even leave out the 5 because it's half way through 0-9. It's the one habit that I just can't shake.

5) The first big concert I ever went to was the Rolling Stones with my Mom, Dad, and Nae when we were probably around 12 years old. It was at Dodger's Stadium and we had seats on the field pretty close to the stage and I thought the whole thing was so neat, but me and Nae kept complaining about the "funny smelling smoke" all around us!

6)For my 18th birthday I asked my parents for Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young tickets and that's what we did...Me, Mom, Dad, Nae and Nae's boyfriend at the time went and rocked out and it was really special. I went through a classic rock phase (I still love it, just don't have it on repeat like I did then). I also used the song "Teach Your Children Well" as the song on my Senior page in the yearbook. (I've also seen Fleetwood Mac, Eric Clapton, Neil Young on his own, Paul McCartney, and James Taylor over the years and about 100 other bands that aren't classic rock.)

7) I was on the yearbook staff my Senior year and it was really fun and I got to meet some good people and use 6th period as a time to just hang out, though I probably should've worked harder and actually met some deadlines.

8) The only school dance I ever really had fun at was at Senior Prom and that's because I went with my whole group of friends finally and my date was a really good friend, the Captain of the High School Football Team. I was really late to our meeting spot and he was really frustrated as I was holding up the whole group, but when he saw me he said the best thing ever, that "he couldn't be mad at me anymore because I looked so good." Swoon! We had a great time: he said something silly to me as our photo was being taken so I love our picture together because I've got the biggest smile on my face, we danced a slow song together but weren't together together so I was free to mingle with everyone and take pictures with a bunch of friends and not be glued to his side the whole night or expected to dance with only him, and at the end of the night since we weren't having prom night sex he serenaded me with this reggae song that I always used to love how he sang and then we partied it up and spent the night together (but once again, not together together) at one of our friends' houses with the whole group.

9) I have the biggest mouth in the world and am awful at keeping secrets, though I really am working on it this year and so far I have 3 secrets from various people that I've managed fairly well to keep secret. Boyfriend and Nae both laugh over my big mouth and commiserate with each other about how their embarrassing moments are never kept private. Oh, and I really talk how I write; there are constant asides that I go off on (just like in these parenthesis) and I'm sure it's hard for the average listener to follow along with, but I get so excited and sidetracked and caught up in details. Though I am a fairly concise speaker when I need to be, like in front of the class because I wouldn't want to confuse the kids. I also talk a lot and it drives Boyfriend and my family crazy. They pretty much think "Do you ever draw breath?" but I can't help it. I've got a lot to say and limited time with my family so I gotta get a year's worth of talking out in 3 months and I can't help it if I get a sudden burst of energy or thing of something really awesome when Boyfriend and I get in to bed at night and just have to tell him before I can fall asleep! Sometimes I like to sit back and just listen, too, to everything that is going on around me.

10) I have a blankie. It's not one that I've had since I was born; my Mom got it for me the first Christmas after I moved to Australia. It's sky blue and has snowflakes and penguins on it (I love penguins...we call them pengoos, Boyfriend and I, is that lame in general? Is it lame couple's talk? Probably on both counts but at least we don't call EACH OTHER Pengoo or Snuggle Butt or whatever, right?). It's a little throw blanket and it's down. It's the best blanket to have on the plane cause it just covers me and means I don't have to use the icky airplane blankets (I've heard stories and you really don't want to use airplane blankets). It's also warm in winter and cool in summer and a great blanket to lay on the couch with. It's a security thing because it reminds me of my Mom and home and being loved and wrapped up in a big hug, but I'm not Linus from the Peanuts...I don't take it to work with me or school with me or hide it in my purse or drag it behind me at the shopping center, but it is nice to come home and throw it over me at the end of a long day or to throw over my shoulders at night in bed for just a little bit of extra warmth.

Ummmm, ok, so are you ever coming back again now that you know the dark, dark secrets of my soul? Do you think I'm a freak? Oh well, if you're reading my stuff, you'd might as well know the real me and not just some bright and shiny version. So in summary, I, Little D, am a bad flyer, angry in crowds, a vegetarian to get boys, a reformed OCDer, a concert/classic rock nerd, as well as a yearbook geek (though actually really cool/popular girls from my class were on yearbook), a hater of all school dances in memory minus Senior Prom, a big mouth who can't keep a secret and who talks until her face turns blue, and I'm Linus lite. Stick around if you dare. If not, I understand and it's been nice knowing you! Hah!

But really, things might start to get a bit more interesting around here over the next couple of months because we've got another Ikea trip planned for next weekend(really, this is exciting/interesting to me...we don't have a lot of fun stuff on the Coast, can you tell?) plus a wedding in Terrigal with the whole group, and I've just booked my trip home for the end of October and will actually be celebrating my first Halloween in 5 years! (I told Boyfriend today that we have to raise our kids, should there be any, in America because, really, it's cruel for kids to miss out on Halloween. It's not very big here, no costumes or trick-or-treating...how depressing and that means I won't have any kids' Halloween candy to raid some day!) In the meantime, Boyfriend and I have to decide whether or not we are keeping our little house to rent for the next year or whatever and if not, where we will store all of our stuff until I come back and we find a new place together. There will probably also be a recap of another tearful goodbye between Boyfriend and I, as well as a post to all of you in case I die on my flight home (remember Confession #1?) and then a recap of the crazy people I was forced to sit next to on my flight to San Francisco. Then the process of finding a job and hopefully working lots of hours until Christmas and then Boyfriend coming to California and all of our adventures there this year. There will probably be an influx of posts about me suddenly wondering why I miss my family so much while I'm in Australia because they drive me nuts when I'm home (Mom and Dad and Nae actually had this conversation when they were out to dinner the other night..."I will love being home for a week and then I will hate everyone" haha). I'll also probably have lots of pictures and recipes to share soon because I cook a lot for my parents when I go back home (mostly because they are pretty bad cooks, sorry Mom and Dad but you know it's true, Nae would agree) and Nae is a pretty awesome chef and baker, as well, so I'll share her awesome Thanksgiving and pie and lemon bar and cookie recipes. So keep checking back in and if these posts aren't exciting enough for you guys, then remember you can email me or leave me a comment on what you would like to see me write about instead.

Do You Know What I Love the Most

S came in to town, to San Francisco this time.  We saw each other and awkwardly stepped on each other’s feet as we hugged and kissed hello.  It’s been a tradition since that first year when I did it on accident.  Mom and I had seen a million deer on the drive to the airport, but of course, there were none on the drive back when S would’ve been stoked to see them all. I think S was even more impressed by the house than I had been and he felt like a king living it up in that pool house.  We joked he should bring some Speedos and be our pool boy and clean out our pool wearing those Speedos, even if it was the middle of winter.  We saw the owls the first night S was over and we went out to dinner with Nae to one of our old favorites, Saturn Café.  We went to the Gilroy outlet malls (p.s. Awesome) and he spent lots of money on getting clothes for himself.  We had a nice Christmas at the new house, Nae even spent the night with us.  The day after Christmas (Boxing Day for the Aussies) Mom, Dad, S, and I drove to the Napa Valley.  We did wine tasting at a place then hung out at the hotel.  S and I went in the spa before dinner.  We dropped Mom and Dad off at a fancy place to have dinner with their friends from way back in the day, and S wanted to go with them to try the restaurant, but I thought it’d be best to let Mom and Dad hang out with their friends.  I didn’t know it but S was pretty bummed about it so I wish we would’ve just gone with.  Mom and Dad’s friends were stoked to see us after dinner back at the hotel and said they wished we would’ve joined them, so doh!  S and I went to a Japanese food place in town and it was a really great dinner anyway. 

Mookie's Last Christmas

Christmas time again and I went back to California to be with my family. S had had such a good time the first time, that he very readily accepted the invitation to come over again. This time I got a job at Target. Not a glamorous job, but at least I got a discount and could go back to Australia with some of my own money in the bank. Once again, we had a great Christmas morning opening presents and everything. Nae’s boyfriend came to town and we took Dad to an art exhibit about Yosemite at the Gene Autry Museum. We got to dress up as cowboys and take goofy pictures and it was great. Mom, Nae, S, and I went to the Wild Animal Park in San Diego. We went to Santa Cruz again. I let S drive the rental car for a few blocks and he nearly killed us! He tried to turn left when traffic was coming at us because in Australia their left turns are like our right turns and you can do them on reds or whenever without problem. S and I also took a 3 day road trip through Nevada and Arizona. We had a really fun night out in Vegas. We stayed at Treasure Island and had a sweet room overlooking the Strip and the pirate show down below. We got free drink coups at the Sirens of TI show we went to. We hit up some buffet at the Rio my parents said was the best where there was big cheap drinks. Then we walked through a few different casinos. We won like $35 playing the Wheel of Fortune slot machine, I know that’s not a huge amount but it was fun and it was something. How many people come home saying they’ve won anything there? We hung out at the Venetian til 3 in the morning, just walking around near the “canals” and it was so deceiving because it was lit up like the middle of the day. The next day we drove on towards the Grand Canyon. We stopped at the Hoover Dam for pictures. It took forever to get to the Canyon. We went to dinner and then came back to the hotel and passed out. At about 4am the bedside alarm went off. The people who were in the room before us must have set the alarm to get to the Canyon for sunrise. I got up and peaked out the window and it was snowing. We threw on our jackets and shoes and went out to play in the snow. It was magical. S has video of me, I didn't know he was filming, jumping up and down saying, "Snow, snow, snow" and trying to catch the flakes on my tongue. Later in the morning, we got up and drove out to the Canyon. S was in awe of the place. He couldn’t stop taking pictures and we had to stop at every turn out. It was beautiful covered in snow. As we got farther out from the resorts it started snowing again and it swirled up from inside the Canyon. It was an awesome experience. The next day we woke up and our drinks had exploded all over the inside of the car because it had gotten so cold. There was snow for a few hours driving out of the park. We saw a huge golden eagle’s nest and then the next thing we saw was the two eagles themselves in a dead tree. We stopped at Lake Havasu to see the London Bridge and then we drove home to have dinner with my friends from the surf shop B and K. S went back to Oz and I followed shortly thereafter.

A Long December

After my parents left, S and I just continued to get closer. Bun was in love for the first time, too. She was really missing her family though and couldn’t wait to get home. She started getting depressed and though she didn’t want to leave Gangles, she also, couldn’t see herself living in Australia for any longer. She stopped going to classes and I very rarely saw her. I think Gangles was the only one who saw her frequently as she moved in with him basically so not even her roommates saw her anymore.
S told me he loved me after we had been dating about 6 months. It happened at the end of a long night out on the town for Gangles’ 21st birthday. I was in love with S at this point, too, and so excited that he had said it.
I asked S to come to California at Christmas time. He was excited as he is a big movie buff and wanted to see all the things they show in movies for real.
I left in November and went back home to work at the surf shop I had worked at for a few years before moving. I missed S like crazy, but also enjoyed seeing some old friends and coworkers. S got in like 2 days before Christmas. I was working so Mom and Nae picked him up at LAX for me, but there was a problem. First, S didn’t have our address and you need one for the Customs forms so they can track you down if they need to while you are in the U.S. Secondly, Nae and Mom couldn’t find him so it took a couple hours to track him down in the right terminal! Off to a great start! I was so excited at work all day, but my manager wouldn’t let me go home early as it was a very busy time of year obviously. I rushed home afterwards and they weren’t home. I paced until they got there. Then he was there and I didn’t know how to act. I was so awkward. I stepped on his foot when he came in to give me a hug and a kiss. We had an amazing time together. It was S’s first Christmas ever, as his religion doesn’t celebrate Christmas, and he ripped through his presents so fast and so excitedly! We went to the San Diego Zoo with my Mom and Nae (Dad was working), we hit up Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm, saw all the people from the travel group S had met while they were in Sydney, we drove up to Yosemite just the two of us for a few nights and it was beautiful with snow on the ground and S was just amazed by the place. We then went to Santa Cruz to visit Nae and S fell in love with the area. He loved the coast line and the sea lions and Pizza My Heart and Saturn Café. He loved staying at the Hilton in a suite with my Mom and the free breakfast that came with it.
Once again, my parents proved their awesomeness when I told them I wanted to do my whole degree in Australia and they agreed to pay for it all. I even got to go on a business trip with my Mom to Singapore for a week before continuing on to Sydney.