The Song of the Gremlin

Hey All (or Few, which ever the case may be)! I had my first major assessment at work today to see if I'd be competent to go on the phones and start taking real calls this afternoon and I was, but didn't feel like it! I like being really good at everything and when you're brand new at something, you typically aren't going to be really good at it yet so it has been hard for me to let go of being perfect and to just trust myself that I know what I'm supposed to be doing and just do it. Doing the real calls this afternoon was nerve wracking and my first call was a big mess because the person who had helped the customer before didn't set stuff up right so it really threw me off my game, but the next 3 calls I took, while maybe a bit clunky in delivery, turned out alright. We have more training this week and then Monday we will be on calls all day so I will get lots of practice then!

Have I mentioned we bought me a car? We got a super sweet deal on a 1996 Subaru Impreza and it's got low mileage on it, air con, and is an automatic so I'm a happy girl. MOTH Dude bought it and offered to just buy it outright or pay for half of it, but since we got it for such a good deal, I told him I'd pay him back the full amount. It's not very much money to pay back, BUT it feels kind of cool to make my first big purchase and pay it off with all of MY own money. I feel like a grown up kindof.

We have not really been up to much around here. MOTH Dude and I both seem to be exhausted from work on the weekends and taking it easy. We did go up to the Stockton Sand Dunes with Bob Marley, LC and Lo on Sunday to test out Bob's new 4 wheel drive. It was a lot of fun. We did a little bit of sand boarding and I had two big stacks and hurt myself on the first one. Luckily there were no broken bones, but I reckon I've bruised some deep tissue inside my boobs and I think I jarred my jaw a bit because it hurts pretty badly when I yawn. I also managed to knock the wind out of myself. I didn't learn my lesson though because I took a running leap down another hill, only to not have the board slide down the hill with me! Oh well, something for everyone else to laugh about, I guess :)

So anyway, on to the reason my post is titled what it is: At work there is a girl who works as a hairdresser on the weekend and she met up with one of her other friends who is a hairdresser on Sunday for dinner. Her friend tells her this story and when she told it to us at our work on Monday morning, I was dying! It seems her friend was working on a client when the client received a call from her mentally disabled teenage son while she was in the middle of having her hair dyed. Her hair was up in the foils and just waiting to set when he called and said, "Mom, Mom, Mom! I've caught a gremlin!" And the Mom says, "What do you mean you've caught a gremlin?" And the son says, "I caught a gremlin Mom, don't worry, I saw it and I caught it." So the Mom starts to get really nervous and tells the hairdresser she needs to rush home, right away, no matter that her hair is still in the foils. The Mom gets home and looks all through the house for her son and the "gremlin" but can't find them. Finally, she goes out to the garage where she finds her son and his gremlin, which turned out to be there postman who is a midget! The son was proud and said, "See Mom, I told you I caught a gremlin!" The Mom untied the postman who was not too happy about the situation and apparently he is now going to sue the family!

While the whole suing the family is not funny and while it must have been a very embarrassing situation for the postman, I just laugh every time I think of how proud the son must have been when he showed his Mom the "gremlin" he had caught!

Today Was a Fairytale. You Were the Prince.

Haha, ok, so maybe I'm being a little tongue-in-cheek with my title or maybe today really was a fairytale, just a real world fairytale rather than a Disney one. The day itself wasn't anything too great: I did a bit of work online, dishes, two loads of laundry and had a two second chat with my sister, however tonight, tonight is where it got good. At about 7:15 I heard a car pull up in to the driveway and that really freaked me out because I wasn't expecting anyone and MOTH Dude doesn't get home until about 8:45, but there he was walking in our back door an hour and a half early! Dinner wasn't even ready. It was so nice to have him come home at a normal time. To top it off the soup I made was delicious and halfway through it MOTH Dude surprised me with a Cherry Dr. Pepper-score! I'm sure it probably doesn't sound like much to anyone else, but I couldn't think of a better Monday night.

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?

Gold Guns Girls

Nae got me in to this Metric song right before she left for South Africa and now it is my happy song. She says it would make a good, brisk walking song...a song she would've listen to running between classes on campus at UCSC. Anyway, it's different than "Help, I'm Alive" so whether you loved or hated that song (and even if you started out liking it you probably hate it now because it is played on the radio every 5 minutes) you should check this one out anyway, in my opinion.

Songs of Innocence

Dear Mrs. Jones,

I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer. I work at Home Depot and I told Sarah how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out every single shovel we had. Then I found one more in the back room, and several people were fighting over who would get it. Sarah's picture does NOT show me dancing around a pole. It's supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot. From now on I will remember to check her homework more thoroughly before she turns it in.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Smith

Don’t know if you guys have seen this picture or not before, but it made me laugh so hard when I came across it. I think I read somewhere that it was originally shown on the Conan O’Brien show so it’s not real, but I wish it was, and I hope that I get some seriously awesome drawings like it over my years as a teacher! This is totally the type of thing that will get me out of bed in the morning 20 years in to it.

The Good Life, Let's Go On a Livin Spree

Peter, Peter, Possum Eater

Listen, I know that's not exactly how the song/poem goes, but there aren't a lot of songs about possums out there and I try and name every post after a song...also this post is about a possum, he's a boy and I named him Peter, and I fed him good stuff to eat so it kinda makes sense to call it that.Every time we rolled our garage door up or down for the past few weeks we've been hearing lots of bumps and bangs inside of it. We had no clue what it was and were freaked out every time we walked in to the garage that a rat or snake or something was going to fall down on us.

Last night I went to sleep with the sound of the possums outside our window growling at each other and it was a scary noise, like someone coughing/a motorbike starting up, and this afternoon when Boyfriend got home from an overnight Sydney trip, this is what he came home to as he pulled the car in to the garage:

He ran inside to get me and all I could see when I came out was its long, hairy, black tail hanging out from under the garage door. I didn't know if there was a possum attached to the tail or if the possum was alive or dead. Luckily, he was alive (trust me, I got a glimpse, and it is a he) so I immediately wanted to make it my pet and decided to give it my leftover PopTart. Little guy went nuts for it!

I also put an orange up near him and I was nervous to be so close to him and while he gave the orange a good sniff and seemed interested in it, he still hasn't touched it. For some reason his nose and eyes and his sweet little face remind me of a pig...anyone else seeing that?

He really loved the banana I gave him after the orange and he tried to grab it with his gross claws, which freaked me out again. He ate nearly half of a huge banana that Boyfriend had just bought for my breakfast tomorrow. It was so neat to watch him up close and his nose kept running with excitement (/rabies?).

We just went out to see if we could put the roller door down (it's been about 2 hours since Boyfriend discovered him) and he was still sitting on top of it so we rolled it really slowly and you should've seen him go- it was like watching a lumberjack in a log-rolling competition, too cute!

Anyway, you guys just wait and see, four weeks from today is when I leave to go home to CA and I bet before then I'll have the little guy sitting on my shoulder like a parrot and eating out of my hand! (Ok, before my Mom or anyone else freaks out, I'm joking....well....mostly I'm joking)

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.

Daydream Believer

Normally our mornings consist of waking up anywhere between 4:50-5:30 a.m. depending on the train Boyfriend is catching that morning. I drag my butt out of bed and make him breakfast (2 crumpets with butter and vegemite-ick-and a glass of orange juice and a travel mug of coffee for the train, if you were curious) and make sure his lunch is thrown in his bag while he takes a shower or gets dressed. I then sit with him and watch the news until he has to leave then I hop back in to bed, maybe check my email, cuddle the still warmish hot water bottle, and fall back to sleep.

That's how it normally goes.

This morning, with only one day left at Boyfriend's current job, we got up, I made the breakfast, he got dressed, we watched the news, he left, I checked emails, I cuddled the hot water bottle, and I laid here, and I laid here some more, and I didn't not fall asleep for two hours. My eyes were closed but I was not blissed out and unconscious. Instead, I daydreamed about the stuff I would've liked to have been dreaming about: my wedding and working at the surf shop. I won't share with you the wedding plans because I'm not even engaged yet and some of you will probably find it creepy that I've got most of my wedding planned out (but only if it's to Boyfriend, it's very us and would change if I eventually met and married someone else) and I don't want to jinx it, either. So tomorrow I think that I will finally write about my nearly 3 years of working at Jack's Surfboards.

By the way, like a champ, I eventually did fall asleep. I dreamt about some of the guys I worked with at Jack's, but they were bad guys come to drink all the alcohol at my parent's house and steal their stuff, which wasn't like my daydreams at all!

Dignity and Money

So here's a question: If you had a few people over to hang out for the night and you went and got cheap take away together (let's say under $10 a head, the total bill is less than $25) and you put it on your card; would you follow up the next day with people to pay you back if they had forgotten the night before? It's a one time thing, your friends normally pay their own way.

I'm unemployed and I still wouldn't follow up with 2 people over a total of $14. Is this just me?

Party Like a Rockstar

Boyfriend, like me, is an energy drink FREAK. For awhile there, he was having 2 a day everyday, but then when he went in for his scuba course's doctor's examination he learned he has slightly high blood pressure and figured 2 energy drinks a day weren't helping that. And I was just as bad; I used to drink between 1-2 sugar free Rockstars everyday while working at the surfshop. When I moved out here I was disappointed in the taste, variety, and size of the energy drinks available. We went to this one concert series called "Rockstar Presents the Taste of Chaos Tour" in Sydney the first year after I moved here and we were all excited to have some Rockstar at the show because if they were sponsoring it, they must also be selling their product at the show, right? Wrong!

After visiting California for the first time, Boyfriend was blown away by the variety of energy drinks we carried....Rockstar, Monster, Lost...and the flavors...punch, cola, random, different coffee flavors, that it was a let down to rely on "V" and RedBull once we got back here. Last year we noticed Coles was finally carrying RockStars: my favorite the sugar free, the regular and a juice one. We went nuts at first and bought one for everyday of the week. Those were what Boyfriend had been drinking 2x daily when he had to slow down for fear of a heart attack.

Just yesterday we went to our local Coles which is pretty small and known for its lack of variety when Boyfriend started pointing at an endcap. There were cans of Monster Energy Drink! We went down the soda aisle and there was the regular, sugar free, and then two other flavors that I didn't recognize...an orange one and a yellow one I think. Anyway, we immediately loaded up our basket with about $15 worth of energy drinks. Boyfriend said he had been waiting for this moment to start drinking energy drinks again. I had my sugar free one at the family bbq last night and it was like sweet heaven on my lips!

Haha, anyway, a dumb thing to post about, I know, but just thought I'd let other energy drink aficionados out there know that Monster is in Australia now and there is something totally comforting about seeing a familiar product on the shelves here.

I'm Chiquita Banana and I've Come to Say

We've got baby bananas growing in our backyard! Near the clothes line out back has is a banana tree (not technically true, but whateves) and it's always just been a mass of leaves, but last week as I was hanging out the laundry I noticed it had a big red-ish, purple-ish flower on it. One of the flower petals had fallen off to reveal 6 tiny bananas. When I went out to check on them today, there are now 12 baby bananas and some are still being hidden by the petals of the big flower! I hope that they grow and ripen, though I'm worried because it has been pretty cold and windy around here the past few days and I'm sure it's only bound to get colder. Anyway, these little guys brought some brightness to my day so I thought I'd share the first pictures of

them.

Swallowed by the Sea

On Friday, Boyfriend and I made Mexican rice and he brought over tortillas from the Mexican food place in Sydney and we had burritos for lunch. We then headed out to one of our local beaches, Soldiers Beach (the above picture claims to be it, but I think it is actually the next beach over, Jenny Dixon Beach, but thought I'd put it up so you guys can see what my local beaches look like= gorgeous and clear water like Hawaii). The beach is a big semi-circle, probably about a mile long, and we thought we'd walk to the end so we could look out and see the other beaches past it and also explore the rock pools that were there. The weather was warmish, but did get chilly off and on as the sun disappeared behind the lingering rain clouds still left in the sky. When the sun was out, it shined through the water and you could see the sand and shells at the bottom. We walked out a little ways in the water and it felt so warm. Boyfriend thought warmer than when he had last been out at summer. When we got to the end of the beach there was a calm spot that was shallow for a ways out and I said to Boyfriend, "Let's go for a swim" but he just laughed and said we didn't have any towels or bathing suits, for that matter. So we walked on the rocks a bit, but didn't see anything in the pools and the rocks were sharp and hurt our feet so we started to walk back.

We had just started walking back and the beach was deserted and the sun had come out and was shining through the water and I said again to Boyfriend "Let's go for a swim" He said that he would watch me and I said, "No, come on, it'll be fun, come with me. We can use my shirt and undershirt to dry off when we get out. It'll be an adventure and funny" So he said alright and we waited for the only person on the beach to walk past us then I stripped down and ran into the water in just my thong and bra, laughing because if anyone was around they would see my big, white bum for sure. Boyfriend then came jogging down and into the water in his boxer briefs, too. Just then, the sun decided to go behind some clouds and the water wasn't as warm past our legs as we thought it would be. It was actually spooky being in the water and it being all gloomy, but we laughed and shivered and dove under the water a few times anyway. Boyfriend said he'd wait in the water while I got dried off and changed so I raced out of the water and tried to dry off and change back in to my workout pants and sweatshirt as fast as I could. I got done then Boyfriend came out of the water and started to dry off. Then some people were coming from down the beach near the rocks so he raced back in to the water and stood there til they had passed. They kept looking at Boyfriend and then looking at me and smiling and then looking back to Boyfriend. Finally, they passed and Boyfriend came out of the water and dried off as best he could, too.

Later that night was when we were due at the Hairdresser and the Soccer Player's place for dinner and right when we walked in the door I announced to everyone that I had had a relapse. That it had been four years since I last jumped in to a body of water naked (the last time being when I had first met Croc and the Soccer Player and jumped in the pool naked on a dare in the middle of the night) and I had felt today that the time had come for me to do it again, but this time I had convinced Boyfriend to do it with me, too. They all laughed at us and probably thought we were crazy since it is winter here and all, but it was totally fun and I would definitely recommend that the next time you find yourself walking along a deserted beach with beautiful clear water that you be adventurous and go skinny-dipping or semi-skinny-dipping, too!