Blurry

Us with MOTH's Grandpa right before his speech. It was really chilly at this point, but wish you guys could see the little bright green sweater I had on under the hoodie.

The crowd standing and watching us...intimidating right? I felt so awkward the whole 5 minutes we were up there!

Our amazing, adult sized bounce house. Bet you're jealous you didn't have one at your engagement party, huh?

Oh man, so much of the party is a blur to me! I've definitely learned my lesson and will plan our wedding schedule better so that we actually have time to enjoy our wedding and speak to everyone who has made an effort to come help us celebrate.

After going to bed at 1:30 the morning of the party and getting back up at 6:30 to keep prepping, the time until the party flew by! At 1, the party start time, the Hairdresser had just finished on putting flowers in my hair and I was still in lounge pants and had no make up on and people started arriving. This isn't California so a 1pm start time means 1pm and not 1:30 as I was hoping!

I quickly threw on my outfit and greeted anyone who came inside, but unfortunately I still had so much stuff to finish in the kitchen that I couldn't go outside to make the rounds and chat to everyone as they arrived. Luckily MOTH Dude was out there mingling for awhile, before I put him to work on the bbq.

All my girls really stepped it up and asked me numerous times what they could do to help me so I put them to work and thank god they offered their help or people would still probably be waiting on their lunch!

The food finally made it out and man can 65 people eat! I think there was just barely enough meat and a few people at the end missed out on the kick ass fried rice LC made. I felt bad because MOTH didn't get that the chicken was only for the people who didn't eat pork and the shrimp skewers were only for the veggies so I know at least one of our vegetarian friends missed out on the shrimp. MOTH got a plate of pork and sweet potatoes and I didn't end up getting anything to eat.

After people were served, we finally got to relax and I got to stop and speak to as many people as possible, but there were still many more people that I didn't get to spend time with. MOTH's grandpa always likes to give speeches at parties so MOTH and I got pulled up in front of the crowd while he gave a super short speech that didn't really have much to do about anything-awkward! But I think he had been drinking. Then MOTH and I said a quick thank you to everyone for coming out for us and to get back to partying because we were embarrassed standing up there like that in front of them all!

After that I grabbed an alcoholic slushie and hit up the bounce house. People started leaving and after a little while it was just our main group of friends. When it got dark, we put up 4 goon sacks (aka the wine bladders out of boxes of wine) and played Goon-of-Fortune. We probably had 12 people standing around the clothes line (you spin and if the sack lands on you you have to take a chug from it) and we made it through half of each sack before people needed a break. I said anyone who wasn't going to go get a soda had to go back on the bounce house and surprisingly, most people did, and even more suprising-no one got sick! We then came back and did about 20 more spins, but people must have been cheating because in the morning when we checked the sacks, they were still half full.

By 10 I was absolutely exhausted and felt like I was maybe coming down with a cold so I snuck inside and went to bed. LC came in to try and rouse me back in to party mode but I was freezing, drunk, and couldn't keep my eyes open. Everyone else stayed up until 11:30 and then went home or camped in the backyard. When we got up in the morning, our friends were gone and had majorly cleaned up our backyard. MOTH and I picked up the rest of the backyard and opened all the presents we had been given. The rest of Sunday we just took it easy.

Although the day went by so quickly, when I was reflecting on it yesterday I couldn't help but keep getting choked up. First off, I thought it was amazing that so many people came out to help us celebrate our engagement and to show their support for us. And secondly, I kept getting teary eyed when I thought of all the work our friends had done for us over the last week. All of our friends helped us make food, serve food, take pictures, prep stuff, set up the party and tear it down at the the end and then they still all got us awesome presents, too. I was/am just overwhelmed at how amazing they are and how grateful I am to have each of them in my lives.

I guess that was the point of my post two posts ago, I feel like we used to be together like this a lot more often and I miss that. Saturday felt like old times and it was so much fun!

Anyway, in 20 years time I probably won't remember a lot of the specifics of our engagement party but I will remember all the love we felt that day.

Get the Party Started

We're at T -31 hours until party time people and I am in a mad panic! Somehow between Saturday and now our RSVP list has grown from 45 to around 65 people. Holy Moly! What have I gotten myself in to?

Luckily it looks like the weather gods are going to smile on us and tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and warm. Thank goodness!

Yesterday I hit the mall to find the perfect tropical-y dress to wear for tomorrow. After 3 hours and hitting every clothing store there, I decided that maybe new jeans and a cute tank top and bright shrug would be enough. I'm a bigger girl with stubby legs and big boobs so no, those maxi dresses that everyone is carrying right now don't flatter me, nor do my only other two options in stores right now- something tight and short or something strapless. No, no, no! So oh well, I'll probably be the least Hawaiian-y looking person at my party, but at least I will be comfortable and feel cute in the outfit that I did pick out. I was trying to surprise MOTH Dude by getting us male and female style leis to wear, too, but apparently plumerias aren't in season yet so the flower shop said they'd have to use orchids and the leis would cost $80 a piece so that put a kabosh on that idea pretty quickly!!

In about 45 minutes, I'll be out the door for a 5 hour shift at work and then I'm off to shop for party supplies which includes 18 kilos of pork shoulder and 4 boxes of cask wine (for Goon-a-Fortune, of course). We brought the iconic American, red plastic cups back with us on this last trip so I might have to teach these Aussies how to play some beer pong, too! (Have I also mentioned that we are having an adult slushie machine and an adult sized bounce house?!?)

Tonight I've got 3 batches of chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies to bake, as well as 3 boxes of cake mix worth of cupcakes, and probably close to 100 bread rolls (not to mention getting that 18 kilos of pork wrapped in banana leaves and put in to 3-4 different crocpots to cook away for the next 20 hours). I'm going to be one frantic girl!

I'm off to get dressed for work and then take these next 37 hours head on. Wish me luck! I will hopefully have fun stories and maybe some pictures to share early next week.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

I'm in a funk. I think 4 weekends, most of them rainy, has something to do with it. Being stuck indoors with nothing to do when you've been looking forward to the weekend the whole working week sucks and then I start to think of the perpetual sunny weather we have back home and how if MOTH and I were bored there, we could take off for a night or two in San Francisco at my parents' condo and catch a baseball game and soak in the jacuzzi and explore parts of the town we've yet to see. And then I think about how there are tons of restaurants to try and fun things to do in Santa Cruz within easy distance of our house and then I just want to pack up and go there today, right now, let's book the flights, and get sad when I know that we can't.

Where we live on the Coast in NSW is so far away from everything else. We have to drive 20 minutes to find a restaurant that is not a pub or a step above a pub and there isn't like a great coffee house to go hang out at or a pier to walk on or a downtown area where we can walk around and kill some time and then try a new restaurant on a whim. We also find ourselves in the minority with our friends because they are all grown ups with kids, where as we don't have that sort of responsibility and miss the spontaneity of calling everyone up for a big night of drinking or doing something equal irresponsible. None of my close friends from back home have kids yet and so are always available at the drop of a hat to drive an hour and a half to find a really cool Korean restaurant we've heard about or to come over for a late night jacuzzi session. And don't get me wrong, I love all of my little "nieces" and "nephews" here and playing "Auntie D", I just wish we were on the same page as our friends or that they were still on the same page as us. (And friends reading this- do not take this the wrong way, I'm not having a go at anyone for being grown ups and having babies, I'm just saying I wish MOTH and I were on the same page-wait, not that I want a kid yet, but I wish that we were all experiencing all the same stuff at once-and yeah, I guess this still isn't coming out right, but I still love you guys and love our friendships so please don't read in to this any more than me feeling sorry for myself.)

I'm also in a funk because this weekend is our engagement party and you'd be right to ask, "Why in the Hell would that put you in a funk, weirdo?" Once again, the stupid weather- we're having an outdoor, Hawaiian luau themed party and it'll have to be postponed or people will have to huddle, shivering under tarps in our backyard if the rain doesn't clear out by Saturday (so far the forecast is saying it's here to stay). We've been so on top of planning for it and looking forward to having everyone over to help us celebrate and now we're both stressed and cranky that it's not going to work out the way we had hoped. I think we both need this party as a way of forgetting all the negativity that was involved when we initially got engaged and to remind us of just how many people are actually rooting for us. And speaking of people who are rooting for us- my parents and my sister can't make it out for the party, which is understandable, but I still really, really wished they could have been here with me.

So yeah, look at me...Little Miss Ray of Sunshine! Is it any wonder I haven't been blogging lately??

Sorry for the negative post. Fingers crossed for nice weather on Saturday so I actually have something interesting and fun to write about.

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 Hope You Had the Time of Your Life

Just recently Bun's little sister Mini-Bun posted her Prom pictures and gosh did that make me feel really, really old! Mini-Bun was 9, maybe 10, when we graduated from high school so it's surprising how fast the end of her own Senior year has snuck up on us. Mini-Bun looked stunning and like a true California surfer girl on her big day. She looked stylish and effortless and that's due to the fact that I believe she did her own hair and makeup and reused a dress from a previous dance. Who does that?! Who is that cool at 17-18 to say, "Hey Mom, it's cool, I don't need a new dress to the big dance because I've got one that I've already used that will work great again"? Mini-Bun=Awesome!

Seeing her Prom pictures and coupled with the fact that I just saw a friend's Facebook page that is still covered with pics of her and her old high school crew got me thinking about my own Prom night and what a blast it was. I had been to 3 other dances over the 4 years of high school and all of them were awkward/awful. As a freshman I went to the Homecoming dance with a boy I had gone to grade school with. He didn't go to my same high school and I didn't know anyone there and we hadn't seen each other in 6 months so we didn't have a lot to talk about and I can't remember if we danced or not. As a junior I thought I was asking a cute guy I had met once to the dance and my friends were going to ask his friends so we could all go in a group. They never got around to actually asking the friends so there I was again with a guy I didn't really know, but luckily he was friends with my sisters boyfriend at the time so we kindof hung with them for the night. We left as soon as we were allowed to and went back to Bun's house. At this point I kind of liked the guy, but he didn't seem to be paying enough attention for my liking. So I decided to get drunk for the first time in my life off some blue koolaid and vodka concoction that Bun and her cousin had whipped up. I ended up drinking way too much and acting like a complete tool, even saying I was going to jump off the balcony on to Bun's Mom's Navigator (3 feet) below! (What did I think I was going to accomplish, a sprained ankle?? Haha, so dramatic! I still can not talk to Bun's cousin without her bringing up "I'm going to jump on the Navi" without fail, soooooo not fun introducing her to new people, especially new boyfriends who always got to hear the story, too!) (P.S. Sorry Mom for getting drunk at 16 and you not knowing until now. I guess there is a reason for the legal drinking age not to be 16!) So the dance date took off and we never spoke again because he didn't want to deal with that kind of bullshit, rightly so. The next dance I went to was Homecoming my senior year. I thought I was going in a small group of the cool kids, but turns out it was more like the top 100 coolest kids, and me and my date didn't get an invite to their after party...ouch! I also hated my shoes, wasn't a huge fan of my dress, none of my real friends were at the dance, and my date was the Loser ExBoyfriend who didn't go to the school.

Finally, finally, for senior Prom everything came together. We partied with the football boys every weekend and I sat next to one of the team captains in Math that year and we really hit it off. We had made out one weekend (sorry, again, Mom, and it was just making out), but really only because Bun had left us alone downstairs at her house and I was too young and dumb to say "No" to a popular boy. I mean, he didn't force me or anything, that's not what I'm saying, but I would've been happy not to make out with him that night, too. Anyway, so all of us decide we should go as a group and hire a limo, do pictures together, then have an after party at someone's house. The Team Captain asked me by bringing me two different bouquets at lunch one day and I was excited to be going with him because we were really good friends by then and the Loser ExBF was out of the picture for the moment.

The night of Prom I was running late because Nae wanted to follow us over to where we were going to be taking pictures beforehand to have her pictures done there, too, but her friend was running late and I finally just had to go. I got there and the Team Captain was pretty pissed because picture time was over and we had to leave and he and I only got a snap or two before jumping in the limo, but as we were taking those few quick snaps he said something really nice- "that I looked so beautiful, I was worth the wait"...awwww!

On the ride over to the Long Beach Convention Center, we laughed and talked and had a good time and then one of the boy's pulled out a bong, nicknamed Snoop Bong, and started taking huge rips off of it. Me, Bun, and Candie (another old friend whom I've only briefly wrote about to chronicle the demise of our friendship) just thought it was hilarious, but the other girls in the group who we weren't really close to were spazzing out and saying we were all going to get contact highs or wreak of pot smoke and not be allowed in to the dance (and they were the types of girls who had those huge, poofy princess dresses so smoke probably could've hid up under one of their layers or something) so the guy put the bong away. As we walked in to the dance, we took our couples photo and group photo. The picture of me and the Team Captain is a great one- I am standing with my back to his chest and just as they were taking the picture the Team Captain whispered something really naughty in to my ear that made me laugh and that is our picture- him with a big smile and me mid-laugh. I also got a great picture with Nae- we are both in our fancy black dresses and I had her jump up in to my arms like I was a groom carrying her across the threshold.

The rest of the dance I had a great time running around and chatting with people and taking pictures with friends I was only going to see for two more weeks of school. The Team Captain was in fine form, having mixed some Shrooms in with his Mac n Cheese when we got to the dance and he was super funny to hang with. We had one dance that night and not being a dancer that was enough for me and the Team Captain being the charmer he is danced with tons of girls the whole night and it was nice to not be with a boyfriend where I'd have to care or be jealous if he spent the night dancing with other girls.

Prior to the dance, the Team Captain and I told people if they couldn't think of anyone to write for Prom King and Queen, vote us. I thought it was a bit of a joke because I was pretty anti school spirit. A lot of people in my homeroom thought it was funny so they put us down. Well, a friend of my sister's was on the dance committee or student council had come up to her a few days before the dance and told her that we had enough votes to make it on to the court, but I guess with school politics we somehow didn't make it on the ballot. Didn't matter in the end, the two nicest kids from our class won it and I thought that was pretty great.

At the end of the night we piled back in to the limo and headed out to a ritzy community in the hills above Newport Beach to spend the night at the Co-Captain's (and Bun's date) house. I must have been pretty tired because I don't remember much from the night. I got upstairs early to claim a couch because Princess D doesn't really do well sleeping on floors. After I had gotten in my pajamas, the Team Captain came upstairs and asked me if we were going to hook up that night. I said "No" and he, ever the gentleman, asked if it was okay if he went and hooked up with someone else! I said "Sure, go for it, good luck!" or something to that effect and then the Team Captain proceeded to whip out his guitar and serenade me with this reggae song that I loved how he sung before going off to fulfill all of his stereotypical Prom night fantasies. It was really, really nice and honestly, I thought it was a perfect night and a perfect Prom. I had fun, I looked good, there was no stress, and I got to spend it with all the people who meant the most to me at that point in my life.

So, did reading this bring back any fun or funny dance memories for any of you? Did anyone lose their virginity in the back of a limo or the back of a Ford Fiesta that night? Did you love what you wore? Hate what you wore? Go with someone your regretted or your future spouse? What was the highlight or lowlight for you that night?

Get Busy

I feel like I'm neglecting the blog a little bit lately...I'm averaging a new post like once every 3-4 days and I don't like that. I'm waiting, as always, for Boyfriend to resize photos so I can put them up without waiting 20 minutes for each picture to load!Anyway, here's a rundown on what's been happening around here...On Tuesday, we picked up Boyfriends two young second cousins who were visiting from Queensland and took them for a walk at the beach. We explored the rock pools and found tons of starfish, jelly fish, bluebottles/portugese man-of wars, and a huge octopus! I nearly put my hand on top of the octopus until I saw its leg move and then I was freaking out thinking "What if I had very nearly just touched a blue ringed (aka super deadly) octopus?". Luckily it wasn't and I didn't!

On Saturday night I got bitten by some kind of spider while I was asleep and part of my arm turned a very angry red and was hot to the touch. I was kind of worried because both my head and body were achey. It's now not so red, except for a ring around it and it keeps blistering. Boyfriend's Mom is wondering if I should go to the doctor, but I'm going to wait and see. I'm just glad I didn't wake up to see what was on me and biting me or else I probably would've freaked out because most spiders here are pretty big and pretty ugly!

On Sunday, Boyfriend's Nan celebrated her 80th birthday so we went over for a big party at her place and hung out with a lot of Steve's cousins (10 of them plus their boyfriends, girlfriends, and kids). We hung out til about 12:30am and then decided to have a sleep over with the two little Queensland cousins so they packed a bag and came back to our place with us. They were so stoked at all the American sour candy Boyfriend had and let them take home. In the morning we harassed Peter the Possum and got him to come out of his home so the girls could see him and feed him some bread with jam on it and a bit of Pop Tart then we took the girls for a walk next to the lake before dropping them back off at Nan and Pop's. We were utterly exhausted after that and it definitely solidified in my mind how unready for kids I really am at this point!

Today I did my weekly weigh in and I'm down 5 pounds, which is a lot for a week so I'm hoping it's not all water weight and it's just my body getting used to all the exercise and healthy eating I've been doing. I've actually just come in from weed whacking the front and back lawns for an hour and tomorrow is a bootcamp morning for Boyfriend so I'll go walking while he does that, then Thursday I plan to mow the front and back lawns and those will be my workouts for the week-at least they aren't monotonous!

This Saturday we were planning to have all of our friends over and now we've invited the cousins over, too, so I've got to plan what I'm going to do that will be relatively cheap and easy to make for 25 people! I think I might do different types of pasta and then for dessert I'm making ice cream sandwiches and Oreo truffles that I first saw on Elsja's blog, except I'm going to dip them in milk chocolate instead of white. It will be nice to hang out with everyone one last time before I go away.

Other than that I'm just counting down the days until I fly home. Our house went on the market last week and has already had an offer on it so we are waiting to hear back about whether or not the deal has gone through and whether or not the new owners want tenants in the house or not and dependent on that, Boyfriend will either stay in the house while I'm away or we will have to move all of our stuff in to storage before I go and then he will stay with his parents until he joins me and the fam in California for two months, starting at the beginning of December. Couple that with my need to find a bunch of supporting documents (character references, invites with both of our names on it, pictures, flight ticket stubs, etc.) so that we can apply for a de facto spouse visa and I think I'm in for a very busy two weeks! (The deal is I will only be moving back to Australia if I am engaged, but an engagement visa is only good for 9 months and if we do get engaged it'll be like a 2 year long deal so the de facto visa is the one that makes the most sense, but does come with a steep processing fee-$1,700!)

I'll try and be more present here on the blog over the next two weeks because I'd like to get all the Aussie photos up before I head back to my other home, Santa Cruz, and get piled up with pictures from there and I'll let you know how the weight loss is going as well as whether or not my arm falls off from the bite.

Here are some Santa Cruz pictures that Boyfriend took on his first trip to the States to get you in the mood for our trip there soon!

I cannot wait until this pizza is in my belly. If you are ever in Santa Cruz you have to stop in at Pizza My Heart for the best slices, plus you can get the Slice deal which is one huge slice, plus a Pizza My Heart t-shirt for $5!

I am the Eggman, They are the Eggmen, I am the Walrus

This Friday all 12 of us in the group got together, plus Baby Lo, for LC and Bob Marley's first night out again with the group. We went out to dinner and then headed back to Croc and the Teacher's place to hang out. Croc and the Soccer Player had been out shooting the weekend before. They hunt feral animals like foxes, pigs, and goats, as well as kangaroos who are breeding out of control. This trip they shot mostly pigs and saw lots of emus sitting on nests. The boys were told once an emu is disturbed off its nest, they don't tend to come back to it so Croc took an egg from one of the nests that they had accidentally scared an emu off of. I asked to see it and that's it in the picture. Upclose it is really dark blue with light blue flecks. I gagged the first time I shook the egg because you could hear the little emu's head clunking against the side of the shell. Croc wants to get an incubator and raise a few emus out on his mom and dad's property eventually.

Boyfriend and I had planned to go ice skating over the weekend because we have been having some pretty dull ones lately with Boyfriend having to work and us being broke. When we got up, we had a message from Croc saying come over to his place and hang out with him and the Teacher and all of the Teacher's Sydney friends for the night. We felt like maybe we were getting a pity invite since Croc thought we had "Fuck all" to do for the night, but they assured us that it wasn't and to come on over. So we grocery shopped and decided to put ice skating off til the next day.

We arrived at Croc and the Teacher's to find a campfire in the backyard (they live in a townhouse and have a tiny backyard, too!) which had a lamb and then beef roasted in a camp oven on it. There was also a rotisserie spit and it had a chicken and a piglet that Croc and the Soccer Player had shot the weekend before on it. There were also yabbies that had been steamed. Yabbies look like tiny little lobsters and are the same as crayfish or related to them. I had a bite of one of the claws and it tasted like crab to me, while Boyfriend had a bite of the tail and said that bit tasted like shrimp. The Teacher's friends were all nice and easy to talk soon so the night was moving along fairly quickly. Croc asked Boyfriend if we'd like to stay the night so they could get drunk together and I said I didn't mind. I wasn't really drinking, I had less than 2 glasses of wine the whole night. At 1opm exactly, Croc and the Teacher's next door neighbor came over and asked us to keep it down. You could barely hear the music we were playing inside and we had only had the didgeridoo outside for about 5 minutes when they came over. It was a rager my no means and it was 10pm on a Saturday night! I couldn't believe how uptight the neighbors were. After the Teacher's friends left, we sat out by the campfire for another hour or so then headed off to bed.

I went to bed with a headache and my stomach was not feeling right. I laid in bed for forever wondering if I was going to be sick or not, and if I was-why, but finally drifted off for a little bit. Then I woke back up feeling really gross and tried to breathe it out and I finally jumped out of bed and said to Boyfriend that I was going to be sick. So I ran down the stairs in my socks and a peacoat and only just made it to the bathroom where I puked up a whole lot. Boyfriend hates throw up (who doesn't?) and started gagging as soon as he came in to the bathroom...haha, makes me laugh to think about it. But we got it cleaned up and went back to bed. When we got up in the morning I apologized to Croc and the Teacher in case I had woken them up but they didn't hear me at all so that was good. We went home, took showers, then went back to bed. Boyfriend asked if I wanted to go ice skating, but I wasn't up for it. He then asked if I wanted to go see a movie, but nothing was playing at the right time and movies are $16.50 a piece here now so I said let's just rent a movie. He went out to run errands and I laid around. I felt like the room was spinning and decided to go back to sleep for awhile. And that was pretty much our weekend, other than being sick (and I still don't really know why I got sick like that), it was a pretty good one. I'm not sure we'll make it to the movies or ice skating next week either because I've heard rumors that we are meeting Turk and Styles for dinner at a Mexican food restaurant, the Flying Fajita Sisters, in Sydney and then maybe heading out to a karaoke bar with them and another friend. I will not be putting my SingStar skills to use, I promise!

Up All Night

S is peacefully passed out on my bed right now, still trying to recover from last night’s party and yesterday’s running around to get ready for it.

It was nice to have everyone over to MY house and not to S’s parents place cause it just felt more relaxed and it didn’t matter if there were dishes everywhere or if we were being too loud or all inside, not that they really care, his parents have always been cool when we have people over, it just was more comfortable to me because I hate to leave their kitchen dirty or keep them from sleep for too long. Everyone said nice things about my house, even though it is kind of a shithole. They liked the backyard and, I agree, it is pretty spectacular.

We started talking about the blog because not many people knew I had one. Everyone was interested and wants the link to it, probably to make sure I’m not talking crap about them! Which is understandable because if someone told me they had written something about me online, I’d want to check it out, too, to make sure it was nice. So I’m emailing people the links to this page tomorrow and hopefully they like it. It was good because I got to talk to Tinkerbell about her description on the site, as she had already read it. She was concerned because I had said I was intimidated by her when I first met her and she thought maybe it was something she had done. I didn’t want her to feel bad, because I’ve said to her before that she was intimidating in the beginning, but this time I got to explain it to her and basically all it was is that she was the first of the girls in the group I had met and I was used to the “Mean Girl” mentality of all girls from back home so I just assumed all girls my age were like that everywhere and was just nervous to meet her. Thankfully Tinkerbell is nothing like the girls from back home and that’s why I like being friends with her! But it was good that she read it and that we could have a quick chat about it to clear the air because I definitely didn’t want her to feel weird about anything as she had never done anything to justify me feeling intimidated by her! She also asked about her name and I was like, “Oh, just because of the dress you wore to the races, you looked like Tinkerbell in it.” I don’t know, I thought it was cute, I hope she doesn’t hate the code name too much! Then everyone wanted to know their names on the site and the Soccer Player was like, “I don’t want to be the Soccer Player, I saw myself on film playing soccer last week and I don’t look so good” or something along those lines. Then Croc asked about his name and Croc HATES the internet, wants nothing to do with it, and the Teacher had already warned me about it before she knew I was using code names, but he just laughed and I think he likes that I think of him like Croc Dundee. S totally thinks he’s not going to have any friends left when people start reading this blog, but I just laugh because I like writing down are little group adventures.

So yeah, all yesterday I was rushing around trying to buy all the food for the party, then cooking cupcakes, making lemonade and spinach dip and trying to get the house picked up. S was out back trying to get the yard all set up and just as Tinkerbell and the Farmer and Junior pulled up, he was hopping in the shower and I was throwing on clothes. Junior looked so cute in this shirt S and I had gotten him in CA and he had on little jeans and Etnies and all night long he was scooting around the floor on his butt because I guess he hates crawling. He is such a cute little guy and so flirty, I love it! Then Croc and the Teacher pulled up and started telling us all about their honeymoon to Thailand; bottom line is they wouldn’t recommend going, but it did make for some funny stories! The Teacher and Tinkerbell were a big help to me getting the rest of the food ready that I hadn’t had time to do and then shortly thereafter the Runner, the Smooth Talker, the Hairdresser, and the Soccer Player all showed up. LC and Bob Marley were running late, as they had a family BBQ earlier in the day for LC’s birthday (which is tomorrow). S's brother, who will no longer be called D, but "Bob the Builder" or just "Bob" came over to hang out with us, too, which is good because now that he's not living at home S (who will also be getting a new name on here shortly) doesn't get to see him as often and I know he misses hanging out with Bob. It was nice that he came over and ended up spending the night. The boys hung out in the back and the girls all hung inside. We were going to eat outside until we realized my backyard is pretty pitch black, even with the bonfire going, so everyone piled in to the house. My food went over well and like I said to Tinkerbell, “I love doing this kind of crap” so I was really glad that the hard work paid off and people liked what I had made. Everyone finally hung out by the fire and I sat with Bob Marley who was getting hammered and he was funny to talk to. Like I’ve said before, he is really quiet so it’s always good when he gets going. I think LC was pretty tired from her day so they took off fairly early and Bob Marley yelled back something like, “Fuck off Poofters” as they were leaving my backyard, just out of nowhere and hilarious. The Runner and I walked back in to the house to grab sweatshirts to wear because it is finally starting to get cold out at night here and as we came up to my laundry room a huge possum was swinging around trying to get on the roof. I yelled, “Raccoon” and then felt really dumb because there are no raccoons in Australia, but she knew what I meant. I’m glad I saw it because I was starting to think I was crazy and there weren’t really in my roof and that I was just getting freaked out by the noises of the house settling. Now I’m totally going to call my real estate guys again to have someone come out and catch them because all last night I could barely sleep listening to the possum run around in my ceiling. Croc Dundee then told us stories about trying to wrestle his friend “Singlet” who will hold on to you like a dog with a bone when he’s got you around the neck, but who can’t throw a punch at all. Croc said even the Hairdresser was able to beat Singlet up, which had us all cracking up because Singlet is so stocky and tough looking, you would never guess a girl could punch him out! Croc, the Teacher, the Hairdresser and the Soccer Player all got ready to go after that; they were off to play a prank on someone else in the group before going home and going to bed.

Just before, I went in to the fridge to make lunch from leftovers for me and S and all I found was the last hamburger with a big ole bite taken out of it-Thanks Guys! Anyway, it was a pretty mellow night but everyone seemed to have a good time. I know S really did, so I’m glad.

To A Party

S’s birthday is coming up. He’s going to be 26. I have no idea what to get him, he has no idea what he wants. Normally we don’t get each other stuff. We go on adventures instead and they always turn out really fun. It’s less than a week before his birthday and I still have no idea if he wants stuff or an adventure. I’m letting him tell me what he wants this year because normally I just plan something and surprise him.
I think I already mentioned, last year I got him a surf lesson and a 4 wheel drive trip. The year before that we rented surf boards at Manly and just played around in the whitewash. Then we stayed in Sydney for the night at a hotel I thought was going to be nice, but was not at all. Then the next day we went and got facials and massages at an area of Sydney I thought was going to be nice, but wasn’t. At least the hotel where the spa was was nice and we still had a great weekend, anyway.
The year before that I found out that you could spend the night at the zoo and they’d give you behind the scene tours of the place. It was a pretty cold night, but it was an unforgettable experience. You show up and you are let in to this courtyard where they have tents all set up and a big picnic table. They provide dinner and it was bbq chicken and stuff, plus there was beer and wine. As you eat, they brought around a wombat and some other animals for everyone to pet. After dinner, we went on a night tour of the zoo. The views over to Sydney were stunning. When we got back, it was time for dessert and then bed. It was fairly cold and uncomfortable in the tent. If I remember correctly, S and I giggled cause we could hear someone in another tent snoring, but we managed to get some sleep. At about 6:45 you are woken up for breakfast. Then they brought out a koala and you could pat it and get your picture taken with it. Following that, we got to go back in to the animal area and see all of the animals waking up and being fed before the zoo was open to the public. We got to go in to the giraffe exhibit while they were still in their barn and feed them carrots for breakfast. There was one that S and I just had to feed, she was old and blind so she’d just come to the door, lower her head down and stick her tongue out waiting for someone to place a carrot in her mouth! Giraffe’s have huge, long purple tongues. She looked hilarious and drunk. It was so funny to watch her. Next, we were taken in to one of the kitchens and shown how and what they prepare for some of the animals to eat. After that, our tour was over but then we stayed at the zoo for the whole day checking out all the places we had missed on the tour or had only stopped briefly on and wanted to see more of. When we were ready to leave, we hopped in a sky bucket thing that takes you over some of the enclosures and gives another great view of Sydney and the Harbour and down to the ferry building. We do pretty fun stuff.
S and I are thinking we’ll have a backyard barbeque for him once Croc and the Teacher get back from their honeymoon. Only LC and Bob Marley have seen the house so it’ll be good to have everyone over. My backyard is huge so people can camp out back if they want and if not, at least we have a big space for people to hang out in. S’s parents have a bum fire can at their house that we can hopefully bring over. S hates that I call it a bum fire, but it’s exactly what it sounds like. Well, wait, you’re bum doesn’t catch on fire, so maybe not. But you know how in movies there are homeless people who are always standing around a trashcan that has it’s trash lit on fire? That’s what this is, an old, metal trash can that we throw some logs in and light up. So we stand around when it gets cold warming our hands, like bums in the movies do.
It’ll be for S’s birthday and it’ll be a BBQ but I’m hoping S agrees that it doesn’t have to be a proper Aussie BBQ. I hate proper Aussie BBQ’s. Here’s why, I thought Australia was known for it’s barbeque….Put another shrimp on the barbie and all that (which by the way, wrong, they call them prawns not shrimp) but they are soooo uncreative in their barbeques. We do it way better in America. If you are invited to an Aussie BBQ you will find 1) snags, sausages, and not good ones like you’d get back home, not even as good as cardboard, they taste funny and they are mostly made of breadcrumbs 2) rolls of bread with butter, they have hot dog buns here but no one uses them 3) An aussie salad- iceberg, tomato, tasty cheese, cucumber, and some onion 4) maybe pasta salad or a potato bake or some rissoles (like really gross homemade hamburgers or something). I could pretty much guarantee 99% if you were going to a bbq here that’s what you would get. Not steak or ribs or chicken or hamburgers or hot dogs or shish kabobs or any of the variety of stuff you’d get in California. I’m not a huge fan and we have A LOT of bbq’s in our group. I just normally try to bring something for myself, I don’t mind the bread or salad or whatever, but the meat really kills me. So I’m hoping S will let me do simple appetizers, hamburgers and chicken burgers with potato chips, and aussie salad for dinner, and cupcakes and marshmallows to roast on the fire for dessert. The group seemed to love the Mexican food and whatever else I made at the last party so hopefully they will like this, as well.

Losing a Whole Year

We had all the god sisters, A, R, and J, plus two boyfriend in tow, and the rest of the travel group over for New Year’s Eve. Nae popped in, but had plans with friends so she didn't stick around for long. It was a weird night, I was still upset about the Big Sur fight and just didn’t know what was going to happen with me and S, even though he said nothing was changing because of it. I didn’t drink but still had an alright time.
We heard the coyotes in the field behind our house as we sat out by the pool and it was a really eerie sound. R's boyfriend, Emo, said it sounded like they were trying to tempt a dog away from its yard. J or R said this had happened with her dogs when she lived at home at her parents house up in the mountains. What happens is coyotes, like wolves, will send in a female in heat to attract a regular dog to follow it or they will send one coyote out to play with the dog, like "look at how much fun we're having" before running away and getting the dog to follow it. The single coyote then leads the dog back to the pack of coyotes where it gets eaten. R or J, I'm fuzzy on which sister it was said a coyote charmed her dogs and the next thing she knew they were off, in the middle of the day, chasing after it. She had to run barefoot across the property to try and get them. I think she said she ended up with a ton of thorns in her feet.
S must have hit the bottle hard, cause he was up at 3am puking in the garden. He had fun the next day watching the Rose Bowl with all the guys and learning the rules of American football. In the morning, we all took a walk down to the beach (like 15 of us) and we joked we must look like a big Mormon family or people from a commune.
Everyone left on the morning of Dad’s birthday and I was really sad to see them go, especially my godparents. I feel like I don’t see them or my godsisters enough and we grew up together, seeing each other probably a few times a month. I don’t know, I had tears in my eyes when I hugged them good bye. I hate that a whole year goes by between seeing them. They and Glen and his wife, Barbie (in a cute way, she wears all pink all the time) are like my aunts and uncles and their kids, our cousins, because Nae and I only have two uncles, no aunts, and no cousins in our real family.
We took Dad to see Gran Torino for his birthday present as he is a big Clint Eastwood fan. I was blown away by it. Lots of people didn’t like it, but it hit me right in the gut. We then went out to dinner at this seafood place at Moss Landing and watched the sea lions on the pier for a whole .5 seconds before it got too cold to be outside.

For the Workforce, Drowning

While I was out dealing with cops and kids, everyone else in my course had already done that round of practice teaching, so they only had about an hour of school for 2 of the 4 weeks then the rest of the time was spent getting ready for our Departmental interviews and doing projects that needed to get done before Internship. I had to do all these things and teach at the same time. I was frantic. Everyone told me my Internship school would be a walk in the park compared to my last school and I lucked out by getting the nicest class in the school. My teacher was alright, he didn’t give me as nice of a report as I think I deserved, but that’s because he didn’t really watch me teach. It was good cause the class became mine and I really learned a lot, but bad cause then he only had the first few lessons of mine that he had critiqued to go off of when writing my final report. I really enjoyed the kids and the work and was ready for a class of my own. The staff at the school were all really great and would do anything to help any of us interns out. After our last day, they took us out to a bar. I wasn’t going to drink, but one of the young teachers (who’s husband happened to be my supervisor at the tough school) was like, “Meh, get drunk, I usually do” so I did and I was embarrassingly drunk and became emotional when I got home that night (and thankfully not at the bar!) and called S. I was just upset about my final report, especially after someone at the bar had told me that not everyone agreed with the final report either and didn’t think it reflected the effort or work I had done. So I was totally embarrassed when I saw S the next day. On top of that, I was a classy bitch and threw up on the train on the way down to his place. Luckily, I must have been psychic that day as I just happened to have thrown a barf bag and a juice box in my purse that morning!
Over the next few weeks, I got my Teacher Research Project done and had to present a portfolio to a professor and a peer justifying to them how I had achieved all of the teaching standards for NSW.
When that was all said and done, I threw myself a Mexican/Halloween/Graduation party at S’s house. It was a good night, I got most everyone super drunk ( I was still over drinking after throwing up on the train) and we had good food and a piñata and most people dressed up as a Mexican or at least Australia’s version of a Mexican or in some type of Halloween outfit. S was a cholo and I was a chola. I found a video on Youtube that was about applying makeup like a chola (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CR0PykHTYY) so I tried to follow it but I have no skills and it ended up looking pretty funny. I got a sharpie and drew “Thug Life” acrossed S’s knuckles, a heart that said Madre on it, and another tattoo on his arm or chest that said Brown Pride. He also had been growing a beard/mo combo for awhile and he shaved off the beard and came out looking sooooo dirty with just the mo!
I a) couldn’t afford to keep my room while I went back home and b) had decided I wanted to live on the Coast closer to S and c)wanted to try living on my own again so I moved out of Benny Boy’s apartment in November and made my way home to California.