This Winter is Lasting Forever, At Least for Tonight

Brrrrr!  Man oh man has it gotten chilly down here within the past few weeks!  It makes for a refreshing time standing on the train platform at 6:45 each morning.  Even after 7.5 years here, it still seems crazy to be this cold in July.  Everyone from back home is posting about beach days and their 4th of July plans and it makes me crazy jealous, but life around here is going well.

MOTH and I have been having some fairly mellow weekends.  We have become obsessed with this tv show, Sons of Anarchy.  We got through the first two seasons in two weekends so I told him we needed to take a break from it or we'd be all caught up to season 5, the current one, in no time.  We now have said we'll watch one season in July, one in August, then save one for the honeymoon in October. Have you guys seen this show?  It's about a fictional motorcycle club in Northern California.  I love the characters and the plotlines are always super intense.  My sister said she's been hooked on it since the beginning but I don't remember ever hearing about it before.  Anyway, it's one I'd definitely recommend.

We're lucky because our little house has a combustion stove heater and we've got a firewood connection by way of Steve's great uncle so nights when we are home early enough and on weekends we get it going and it makes the house so warm and cozy.  We pull out camping mattresses and eat dinner and watch Sons on my laptop in front of it.  I was home sick today from work-had the worst headache all weekend and thought I was getting a cold-and MOTH will be home early so I'm hoping he'll get the fire going for us because my nose is freezing right now.

We're back to eating low carb through the week as it's the only thing that really seems to help us shed the weight.  Dieting through winter sucks as all I want to do is eat comfort food!  But hopefully it'll pay off with a couple less pounds on the both of us in time for the wedding at the end of September.  If anyone has any low carb sites to recommend or any recipes to share, I'd appreciate it!

Friday was the 3 month to go mark....eeeee!!!  We're both really nervous but comfortable enough to say that to each other and we're both really, really excited.  The budget is a hot mess.  It's about 3x more than I had originally hoped to spend, BUT we can afford it, nothing is going on credit or anything.  It's just we were hoping to keep things low key and cheap.  The day will still be low key and no one will be able to tell we spent as much as we have because it's all going in to boring infrastructure type stuff...bringing in fancy portapotties, heating, lighting, hiring a shuttle since there's no parking, etc, etc.  Oh well, on the day I think we'll feel it was all worth it to have a really fun party with a lot of the people who mean the world to us.

We've sent out the invites over the past two weeks and it's been super exciting to get RSVPs back already.  So far there's only been yeses and I can't wait to get the full picture of who can make it and who can't. It's been a good mixture of people who have responded- my old surf coach and his wife, an old family friend, a neighbor, a bridesmaid, some people who live within 20 minutes drive of the venue, some who will have to drive 6 hours, some who will have to fly 15.  Let me tell you, there is probably nothing more flattering in life than having these wonderful people willing to give their time and their money to come share our special day with us.

The whole registry thing is really throwing us.  I've always thought doing the whole scanner gun thing that you see in movies looks fun but most people here do wishing wells where they straight up ask for money.  It's just a different cultural thing and I've told my friends here that that would go over like a lead balloon in the States, although in our situation money really would be easiest.  Because wishing wells are so popular here, no home stores or department stores have really set up registry systems and because we will have limit luggage space, we can't exactly register for a bunch of stuff back in California.  We finally found that a large department store called David Jones does do registries, but the system is a bit clunky- our guests can check our list and then they email DJ's their top 3 gift preferences (wtf?  I guess it doesn't get updated daily so their first pick might've already been bought) and then someone will email them back to tell them what gift they can buy and then they email back their credit card details.  And for the luxury of having this clunky system, they also have to pay $14 for registry upkeep and shipping and whatnot I guess.  I hope, if people want to give us a gift, they skip the hassle of this system and give us money as we will then go buy homegoods with them or put it towards our trip to visit Nae in South Africa next year, but Mom says some people just really, really like to give tangible gifts.  We'll be pleased with anything we do get.

Work has slowed down and gone in to this kind of groove that I'm getting the hang of.  In other words, I didn't sink!  Now that I'm in the groove though, it's nearly time for the whole process to start again and for us to start gearing up for the next intake of students.  Luckily this next semester will only be 70 students from two different schools as compared to the 160 students from 8 different programs we had in this round.  Because I know what to expect as far as work flow leading up to the next groups' arrivals, I feel much better prepared to handle it.  I think I'm doing a decent job and I like the women I work with.  Tomorrow I have my 3 month review and I think it will go well.  I have a list of things I feel I could've improved on from the last intake and a list of things I think I did well in.

With all that being said, MOTH is now home and it's time for me to warm my fingers and toes in front of the fire.  Good night!

He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

Hello Lovelies!

I'm loving my 25 hour work week. I went to the gym when I got done at 1 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and went for a walk on the beach Tuesday morning when I didn't start until 1. It was beautiful down at the beach and I just wanted to run home, put on my bathing suit, and head back down for a swim and to bronze!

Thursday I didn't have work until 1, either, but I used the morning to see the doctor and to finally set up a joint checking and savings account for MOTH Dude and I. It's our start at saving for our wedding and a house someday and so we have money to travel to California in May and have money to buy presents at Christmas. I feel so grown up and responsible having more than $50 in an account on purpose. My sister is the saver and I'm the spender, but I'm loving seeing the money sitting in the account and thinking about the bigger picture of what it will be used for.

The reasons for the doctor's visit were a) (sorry probably too much info) I've been getting really bad stomach cramps for forever now- You know the type where it feels like you really, really need to go?- but it's not because I have to go so I know they aren't normal and I'm sick of getting them so I wanted to ask the doctor about how they diagnose people for I.B.S. He told me it's basically a process of elimination so the first thing he did was test me for celiac disease since my grandpa had it. I hope it's not that because I don't want to give up baking or sourdough bread or tortillas! He said he'd call me within the week if my test came up positive so fingers crossed that that is not the problem. And b) I randomly read about this diet drug called Phentermine on the internet last week and decided I needed it. Fortunately, the doctor agreed and I'm now on the lowest dosage to see if that helps me. It's a low level amphetamine so it's supposed to make your appetite go away and give you lots of energy. Maybe it takes a while to kick in because I've taken 2 doses so far and I'm still hungry and I'm contemplating taking a nap right now. I go back in a month to see how much weight I've lost and the doctor can give me a higher dosage if I need it. I figure I won't be lazy and I will still try and eat less and eat healthy and stick with the gym 3 days a week and I'm excited to see if this medicine helps facilitate my weight loss. The only side effects I have found so far are I'm extremely thirsty all the time (but I guess that's ok because I'm now drinking even more water than I normally do) and last night I woke up a hot, sweaty mess. Like so hot and sweaty, that my underwear and part of my shirt were soaked! (Thanks for sharing that image, right??)

So please keep your fingers crossed for me and send your skinny thoughts my way! I'm really excited and motivated at this point and want to keep the momentum up. One thing that is helping with keeping me motivated (other than the fact the fact that I don't want to look like a total beach whale in our engagement party pictures) is that one of my friends, Adam (real name so you can cheer him on), is a contestant this season on The Biggest Loser! Everyday that I go to the gym, I don't really want to go, but I keep giving myself the pep talk that the time I spend on the bike or the elliptical machine is probably like half of Adam's warm up for the day so if he can do it, then so can I!

Well, that's about it from here for now. Hope you all are having a great weekend (and enjoying the great weather if you're here in NSW or back in CA!).

Motionless Wheel Nothing is Real Wasting My Time In the Waiting Line

Still waiting to hear back on the job. I got a call from the recruiting company on Friday morning that woke me up asking about the people I had put down as references, making it seem as if he had given them a week and they still hadn't gotten back to him. I explained that Monday was a holiday in the States so maybe people had the week off and I'd email them to see if they had gotten the email from the recruiter. Well, I open up my email and there was an email from one of my references asking what type of role I had applied for so she could use key terms about me suited to the role. She had gotten the email that morning when she got to work and started on it then and there. This guy knows he is emailing people in California, does he not understand how time zones work? E said she emailed the form back to him that night, which he probably got when he came in to the office yesterday and since then I haven't heard anything from him. So I still don't know if I've gotten this job or not. It's been a loooooooong process though! I've started to check the job boards again just in case this one doesn't come through. It's frustrating having it all be up in the air for so long. My bank account is getting painfully low again and I would love to not have to depend on MOTH Dude solely for money. I mean, we share our money and don't keep track or anything, but when one person isn't bringing in ANY money, it's pretty obvious who is doing most of the "sharing".

Friday night I made Thai Yellow Curry with Chicken and we watched "She's Out of Your League". Saturday MOTH Dude got up before me and read out in the yard. I got up and wrapped Lo's birthday present and then we were off to her party. We got there about an hour late, but even still ended up being there from about 12:15 to 8:30! She seemed like she had a great day and it was so cute to watch her smash a whole chunk of cake in to her face. We came home and were exhausted and asleep by about 10:30.

Sunday Moth got up before me again (miracle!) and was out in the yard reading when I woke up. I went on Facebook to check something my Mom had posted when Tinkerbell messaged to see what we were up to later. I had felt bad because the night before she left the party with Junior at around 6 and I said if we were going out later, I'd be the DD and come pick her up and she seemed excited to have her sister-in-law watch Junior and have a night out, but then we all got old and lazy and didn't end up going out so she stayed at home, too. So anyway, she suggested that we go get a drink Sunday afternoon. We ran out and did our grocery shopping and then I came home and baked cupcakes for the Sunday Family BBQ. We then met her, Croc, and the Teacher at a local pub and had a couple of drinks and it was a fun hour and a half sitting around laughing and talking and they had a really good guy singing and playing guitar and time was slipping away from us so we had to get going because Moth's Pop is a stickler for being on time and we were already late.

Tomorrow I've got a hot date with the Runner to go get our hair did by the Hairdresser and to check out her and the Smooth Talker's new house and puppy! The Smooth Talker suckered me in to making him cupcakes and since he and the Runner finally got engaged and it was just his birthday, I figured "why not?" so I'll be baking them fresh in the morning before I see her. Thursday is trivia night with Croc and the Teacher and Croc's parents. Did I mention we won the jackpot last week, but had to split it with another team. Still, we ended up winning $73! Friday night, MOTH is off to Queensland, as I have previously mentioned, for his cousin's wedding and I might have a night out with Tinkerbell, Potential Sis In Law, the Teacher, and the Hairdresser and LC if they are around. Tinkerbell wants to dance. I'm not a dancer, but I'll go to hang out and to be the DD for everyone so they can have a big night if they want to. I've also started a diet this week (basically just trying to eat less, no dessert through the week, and eating as much organic fruits, meats, and veggies as possible) and am working on a 30 before 30 list that I'll share with you guys soon.

That's about all from here, keep those fingers crossed about the job for me!

I'm Walkin On Sunshine

I've walked about 25 miles this week...that's 5 miles every day so far or 10,000 steps a day. It's a lot of work and I'm normally out with my Dad about 2 hours each day walking all over the place. Whether I am in Australia or Santa Cruz, I live in two really beautiful places, but sometimes even that is not enough to motivate me to get out there and get moving. For those days my Dad and I chant this mantra: "I don't have to like it, I just have to do it." And sometimes I am motivated to get out the door but then hate every single one of those 10,000 steps I have to take and for those times Dad and I chant: "Every step I take is making my ass look better" (seriously and we probably say this chant at least 3 times per walk). When I think about it in those terms, it makes me feel a little better. I am noticing some changes in my body and I've lost about 7 pounds so far so that is helping to keep me motivated, as well.

Here are some pictures I took from our walk on Thursday:

Oystercatchers

Sandpipers

Hundreds of these crab shells have washed up on the beach over the past two weeks.

A whole sand dollar, one of the first I've seen this year.

You can't really tell the scale on this picture, but this clam shell is as big as the palm of my hand and super heavy.

Super low tide on the beach (the best time to walk it so it doesn't feel like you are walking 5 miles in wet cement!)

Bubbles!

One of the few crab carcasses that have washed up whole.

Dad likes to collect all the broken sand dollars and use them as frisbees to throw out over the water.

Super, super low tide

I tried to get down to eye level with all the shore birds, but in doing so I spooked them so here are the birds flying away from me instead.

Lupines in the campground.

I know this one is kindof blurry, but I thought it was cool because it shows the whole field behind it

Some kind of cool red grass.

Interesting driftwood...I have a thing for driftwood.

Crab shell and the tiniest sand dollar I have ever seen- it's about the size of a nickel.

California poppies

I don't know what these are, but they are neat.

Wildflowers in the campground

I would hate to fall on this guy...ouch!

More lupines

Ornamental cherry tree I think

My ring and the sand dollar next to each other for scale.

I think these are Rock Roses? I just like how they look like tissue paper when they start to fade.

Oh, Mexico....Baby's Hungry and the Money's All Gone

We've been eating very healthily around here for the past week and Dad and I have been trying to get our 10,000 steps in a day (he's been doing better than I have, sometimes getting as much as 16,000 a day, but I am at least doing 30 minutes of working out each day) and since I do the cooking around here, I also do the menu planning. One night I made fish tacos, another night I made lettuce wraps, and one night I did Mexican chicken and rice, which I had never made before and that turned out amazingly! Since I thought it turned out so well I wanted to share what I threw in to the pot with you in case you want something delicious, healthy and super cheap some night. (Skip to the bottom of the post if you could care less about the recipe because there is more news from me down there.)

Mexican Chicken and Rice

You will need:

4 Chicken Breasts

White Rice, I used what we had which was basmati...probably about 2 cups (I just dumped part of the bag in to the pot)

1.5 tablespoons of minced garlic

2 Large Chicken Stock Cubes...I used the Knorr brand which are bigger than stock cubes I've seen in Aus, so might need 3 if you don't have access to Knorr

3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil (this is approximate, I just dumped some in to the pan that I thought was right for the amount of garlic and onion I had)

3/4 of a brown or yellow onion

1/2 red bell pepper

A couple of shakes from No salt Mrs. Dash or whatever multipurpose seasoning you use for cooking

A couple of dashes of cracked black pepper

A 28 oz (794 g) can of tomatoes

Water, about half of the empty tomato can's worth

1/2 Can of Diced Green Chiles (I used Ortega Fire Roasted Chiles, these are mild), you could probably use fresh green chiles, just a lot less

Instructions:

1. Dice up your onion and red bell pepper fairly small.

2. Pour olive oil in to a large pot and start heating it up. Add garlic and onion and saute for about 2 minutes, you just want to sweat the onions, not get them brown.

3. Add the red bell pepper to the pot and saute them for a minute, before adding the green chiles and sauteing them for another minute.

4. Add the can of tomatoes, water, the stock cubes, and the spices and let cook to boiling for 5 minutes. Make sure you keep stirring the sauce so it doesn't burn on the bottom.

5. Add the chicken breasts whole to the sauce and turn down to simmer. Cook for approximately an hour and then try to shred the chicken breast with two forks in the pot. Let the sauce and chicken cook for another 30 minutes and then shred it further if you couldn't get the chicken to shred in to small pieces before.

6. At this point, you should have a lot of sauce in the pot still. Mine looked pretty watery. I was going to originally serve this as a stew over rice, but when I noticed how runny the sauce looked, I decided to pour the rice directly in to the pot and let it simmer for another 20 minutes.

7. After 20 minutes all the liquid should be absorbed and you should have a delicious pot of Mexican Chicken and Rice.

I was surprised how good this turned out. My Mom ate it for lunch and dinner the next day in San Francisco and called me raving about how good it was. I'm already craving it again so it's a good thing that I have all the ingredients in the cupboard still because we will be having this for dinner again this week at some point!

Still no ETA for when I'll be back in Australia, but Boyfriend and I have both been working on my visa stuff this week. Hopefully his stuff will arrive by Thursday next week and then I can send off all the paperwork to the Washington office on Friday and then fingers crossed that I have a quick turn around time for my visa being granted and can be back in Australia by April.

Tonight Boyfriend is headed down to Sydney with Bob Marley, the Miner, Croc, the Teacher, Tinkerbell, and the Farmer to see ACDC. I'm bummed that I am missing out because I think it would've been a really fun night with everyone, but I'm glad that my ticket could go to Bob Marley in my place.

Also, GREAT news: Boyfriend went in for an interview this week and he got the job!!! Woohoo! He is really excited about it and the company seems pretty cool: they are an engineering company who focus on building sustainably. I'm so happy for him and can't wait to hear all about his first days there.

Soup, Soup, a Tasty Soup, Soup!

This picture has nothing to do with this post. Mom's friend brought it over as a thank-you for their girls' weekend in San Francisco and I thought it was pretty and it's been making the whole kitchen smell like Hawaii!

It's raining here today and after checking what was available in the fridge last night I decided to try and make wonton soup. Luckily, it was really easy, especially because Trader Joe's has awesome potstickers that I used in place of homemade wontons. It was warm and hearty and filling, and with only 1 tablespoon of oil and all other ingredients being low cal and low fat, it tasted like we were being bad and having takeout Chinese without the guilt!

Here's what you will need (any of my substitutions will be in parenthesis):

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon minced garlic (used about 2 tablespoons of the crushed stuff in the jar)
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger (used about 1 tablespoon and it could've used more, keep in mind 1/2 of this they are saying is for the wontons, but if you are using the TJ's and follow this you'd only use 1 tblsp, but I'm saying go ahead and add 2 tablespoons to the broth)
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions, plus 3 tablespoons finely chopped
• 10 cups canned low sodium chicken broth (I used half free range organic and half Swanson's in a can)
• 1/2 pound ground pork (the next few things are for the wontons, which I substituted by using Trader Joe's chicken potstickers...I think they do a pork one and they for sure do a veggie one, too)
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• About 30 wonton wrappers, thawed if frozen
• 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced bok choy
• 1/2 cup sliced shiitake mushroom caps (I used the stems, too)
• 1/4 cup sliced bamboo shoots (oops, I forgot these)
• (I think some celery and carrots would be good in this, too, felt like it could've used a few more veggies)

Directions:

In a large saucepan or soup pot heat the oil over medium high heat until hot. Add 1 tablespoon of the garlic and 1 tablespoon of the ginger and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.

Add the 1/4 cup of sliced scallions and the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low so that the broth just simmers. Allow broth to simmer for at least 20 to 30 minutes while the wontons are being assembled.

Add the sliced bok choy, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots to the broth and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.

(Skip next two paragraphs if using pre-made wontons)

In a small mixing bowl combine the remaining teaspoon of minced garlic, remaining tablespoon of chopped ginger, 3 tablespoons of finely chopped scallions, the pork, egg yolk, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil and crushed red pepper. Mix until thoroughly combined.

Working on a flat work surface, lay out a few of the wontons. (Keep remaining wonton wrappers covered with plastic wrap.) Fill a small bowl partially with cool water and set aside. Using a teaspoon measure, place a heaping teaspoonful of the meat filling in the center of each wonton. Using your fingers, lightly wet the edges of the wonton. Bring 2 opposite corners of the wonton together to form a triangle and enclose the filling, pressing edges firmly around the mound of filling to eliminate any air pockets and seal. Moisten opposite corners of the long side. Curl moistened corners toward each other, overlapping one on top of the other, and press the edges together to seal. You should now have a rounded stuffed wonton with a triangle poking up at the top. Assemble the remaining wontons in the same manner. When the wontons are all assembled, set aside.

Using your hands or a slotted spoon, gently add the prepared wontons to the simmering broth. Increase the heat slightly so that the broth returns to a gentle simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally (very gently), until the wontons float and the pork filling is cooked through, about 5 minutes.

Serve immediately.

All the Honeys Who Makin Money, Throw Your Hands Up At Me

Lots to bitch about around here today! (See, I told you diets do bad things to me!)

On the diet front, I've somehow gained a pound despite eating less calories than even my diet recommends and working out, so "Boo, to you" stupid diet, but I'm not letting it get me down. I'm still eating healthy and working out and know that change takes time. I have been tracking everything I eat, drink, and do for exercise here because that helped me lose weight last time. I even got Boyfriend started on it today and he is already all in to it and has the screen up at all times in the background on his computer as he works so he doesn't forget anything that goes in to his mouth either.

On the work front, my accountant had told me just to sign up for taxes as a resident so I wouldn't be heavily taxed at the non-resident rate so I did that on my tax form last week after working those two days, but still got taxed the non-resident rate and it ate up $112 of what I had made! Grrr! "Boo to you" Australian tax office, too! I had big plans for that money (i.e. helping Boyfriend with groceries and our other bills and saving some for Christmas. I'll still do both it'll just be a little less to each cause than I originally thought).

Oh well, on the plus side at least I'm only putting healthy things in to my body at the moment and I'm sure it appreciates the workouts I've been putting it through (like my long walk followed by trekking up the wrong dune first which led to me doing 2 big dunes at the end of the walk instead of 1 and nearly puking this morning) and I've made more money than I otherwise would've without those calls for substitute work.

Sorry for such a boring post; I'll try and get something up later in the week that is more exciting like more pictures from some of our beach walks or something. Oh, and Peter the Possum is still around every time we open the garage door now. I've been leaving him slices of raisin bread and he runs out of his hiding spot to grab it as soon as it is put up! Might have to get a few more pictures of him. I'm telling you, it won't be long until he is up on my shoulder hanging out.

I'm off to enter in the english muffin with peanut butter and jelly I'm about to eat for lunch.

What You Gon' Do With All That Junk? All That Junk Inside That Trunk?

So Boyfriend and I have been trying to eat healthier and be more active for the past couple of months, but while I am feeling a lot healthier and walks feel easier, I'm not losing any weight so from now until I get back home I'm going to be on a pretty strict diet with my only cheat days being the day we have everyone over here for a bbq and if Boyfriend decides to take me out to dinner before I leave. I'm hoping the extra exercise I will be doing, by for sure getting up and walking while Boyfriend is at bootcamp, and my diet of fish, fruits, veggies, and brown rice will have a noticeable change in the numbers on the scale and how I look over the next month. Wish me luck because it won't be fun! It'll totally be worth it though if it means my Mom isn't on my case about my weight as much when I get home (you know it's true Mom! and I know you only do it because you love me, but I still hate it anyway) and I've got plans to see various friends from high school when I'm home and some of them haven't seen me in 5 years so I don't want them to think I've turned in to some kind of beast when they see me now. So, in advance, sorry if my posts get a little bitchy over the next month or so, but remember I will be chocolate deprived and in my book, that's a good reason to be a bit bitchy and sorry because I probably won't have any fun, junky recipes to put up until I am back home and cooking with my sister. I will try and post some fish recipes, though, if that makes up for it any.

Wake Up and Live

We're still trying to be healthy and active. I've been trying to cook lighter dinners through the week than what we were having during those cold, winter nights when Boyfriend first moved in. Dessert, other than berries, is only on the weekends now. And most importantly, we have taken this time which is hopefully the only time we'll ever both be unemployed like this until we are retired, and used it by enjoying each other's company and going on long beach walks a few times a week. Boyfriend amped it up on Monday morning by doing beach bootcamp with Croc on Monday. Then Wednesday morning I decided that while they did bootcamp, I'd do a big beach walk. It was overcast and windy, but once I got going I warmed right up and was glad to be out so early and have the beach basically to myself. Tomorrow is supposed to be another overcast morning, for which I am glad because Boyfriend said that on Monday it got really hot at about 6:30 after the sun was up, so we will be up by 5 and out by 5:30 to start our day! I'm not sure I look any different or if I have lost any weight, but I feel healthier and hills and dunes are starting to seem a bit easier to climb so I'm counting that as a victory.

After our workout tomorrow, LC is supposed to pick me up so that we can go wedding outfit shopping for a friends' wedding the following Saturday. Boyfriend is out again all Saturday for the groom's Buck's/Bachelor Party- they are going to the races and probably to Hooters afterward (I feel it's a good concession because the boys don't want to go out in Sydney/don't have the money for strippers and this way they still get to ogle some boobies!). I was going to go to the Hen's/Bachelorette Party on the same night, but didn't have $80 for the charter bus/stripper show, plus all the other money needed for food and drinks in the City and something new to wear because after nearly 8 months of not being at home and having access to lots of stores I love, my clothes are all looking pretty tired. It would've been fun and Boyfriend said he'd pay, but I can't justify that much money on one night right now.

I might have some new pictures to post in the next few days...maybe those elusive Stockton dune pictures from months ago and maybe some pictures from our beach walk on Tuesday. We went to a neat state conservation area and there were some incredible look out spots. The beach was also a nude beach and why is it only ever old, presumably gay men at nude beaches? Don't worry I don't have any old man doodle pictures to share with you, though I have now seen enough to last me a lifetime!

Waves roll in and the waves roll out. See the water squirting out of your spout.

Boyfriend and I are still on our get healthy kick (I mean, it's only been a week, we would be wusses if we had burnt out already) so Saturday afternoon we thought instead of lazing aroud and wasting a day we'd head down to the beach for a nice, long walk. We hadn't even gotten in to the parking lot on the hill that overlooks Soldiers Beach when I told Boyfriend to pull in to the first spot he could find. I thought I had seen a whale. I think we just missed it doing a full breach because there was no way that I could've just seen a little spout of water from where we were and I saw like a whole wall of water in the air. So we jumped out of the car and sure enough we soon spotted a couple of whales way far out. They didn't breach again in the 10 minutes we watched them, but it was still neat to see them surfacing and the shower of mist that they blew out of their blow holes.

We then walked the beach and

the tide was super, super low.There

was a bit of water cut off by a huge sa

ndbar and we walked through it to get on to the sandbar and out to nearly where the sur

fers were. The water was absolutely freezing and we couldn't believethere were a couple of kids out without wetsuits on, but then Boyfriend and I both agreed at that age we would've done the same thing.

As we walked along we saw a ton of tiny little jelly blobs on the beach. They looked like bubbles on the sand, but once you got up close to them you could see they were solid.

Further along the beach we came to this outcrop of rocks offshore by about two feet and we walked through calf

deep water out to the rocks to look in

their holes to see if we could find any fish or crabs. As we got up on the rocks we were blown away because there was a deep crevice between the two sets of rocks that looked to be about ten feet deep and filled with water! Like I said,

we were only about two feet fromdry sand and here was this deep pool of water. I had never seen anything like it. Boyfriend ran back to the car to get his phone so we could take pictures of it.

When he got back he said he really wanted to jump in and see how deep it was so I said go for it. He jumped in at the far end of the rocks where it was closer to thewaves, but actually a lot shallower.He walked further and further in to the crevice and was trying to dive down to figure out how deep it was, but the water was so cold that he couldn't get any air in to his lungs.

He finally put his hands over his head and

sunk down and we measured it to be about 6.5 feet deep at that point, probably 7 feet at the d

eepest and this was at low, low tide. When we walked back past it later the tide was up and it was at least 10 feet deep at it's deepest point then.

We walked on to the end of the bay and were

blown away to see just how low the tide was.

We were standing 15 feet out from the normal tide line and could see on the rocks behind us where we would normally be standing. We explored the tide pools and came across lots of cool shells. Boyfriend found a really big snail shell with a snail still in it. When we turned it over and it was unfurling itself, it looked a lot like a cow'stongue...gross!

We walked the length of the bay back and up to the car and headed home to get ready for the night. We had a proper date night and went to dinner and a movie.

For dinner we headed out to this town called Terrigal, which is about a 40 minute drive from us and on the beach, but I had never been there before. We went to a cute restaurant called the Cove right on the water and we were sat on a closed in balcony overlooking the water. We sat and ate and watched the boats just beyond the breaking waves bobbing up and down. The desserts looked amazing but we were worried that we would be late to the movie so we had to skip it this time, but I'd love to go back and try some, as well as drink more of this yummy, warm, spiced, red wine we had. It tasted like Christmas!

We headed over to Erina to see Inglourious Basterds. The theater there was so much bigger and nicer than the one we normally go to. It felt like an American movie theater. They even had nachos! And unlike how the Greater Union cinemas do it now, they didn't have assigned seating so you could go in and sit where you like (you don't know how much the assigned seating thing seems weird to me and bugs me).

We both thought the movie was really good. It was gory in a few parts, but you expect that from Quentin Tarantino, don't you? For it being a movie about Nazis, we sure laughed a lot! Boyfriend is still quoting lines to me today from it.

Today is just a lazy day. Boyfriend is sitting out in the sun right now reading and then he's got big plans to wash the car. I'm doing laundry and stoked that it'll dry on the line in one day because today is hot like summer and sunny here. I'm also going to make some jam thumb print cookies (the recipe is over at this blog http://www.survivingoz.com/) to take to a bbq at Nan and Pop's tonight. We are also bringing REAL american style hotdogs to their house tonight for our dinner! All in all, a real nice weekend!

Oh yeah, we saw The Hangover on Friday night, too, and I would recommend it for a good laugh, too, if you haven't seen it yet. I just love the little baby that they find (especially, and I don't know why this part killed me so much, when they just strap him in with a seat belt in the car like it was normal, and safe, to do with a baby)!

Hope you all had a nice weekend, too. Enjoy those last days of summer while you still can. I hear that it's supposed to be an El Nino year which means lots of rainy days for the upcoming winter.