September

How fast a year goes. Time seems to go even faster, the older you get. I remember when a summer day would last forever, and a school year would be like a lifetime. And now, a year disappears before you even know it.

A year ago this weekend we told our families that we were moving to Australia. We sure got some mixed reactions. Either we were brave or crazy. Mostly crazy, I think. Everyone promised to visit - but we aren't holding our breaths for that! We have yet to even get a phone call, much less a visit. LOL

Anyway, it has been a pretty crazy year. I think I speak for both Jonathan and myself when I say that is has been a pretty big lesson in stuff and what is really important in life. Nothing makes you reevaluate the stuff in your life like an international move. Turns out that more than half of the stuff we owned wasn't quite as neccesary as we thought it was. And even now, a year later, there is stuff we hauled here that we still haven't used. (Ahem, that ratchet set, for example.)

You just start to think about "needs" a lot differently. I almost think at this point we could still stand to purge half of the stuff we still own. I think it's been a good lesson for both of us. I read an article recently on the 10 things everyone should do once in their lifetime, and one of the items on the list was "give away everything you own." Wow. Can you imagine? For most people, that would be the most traumatic thing they could imagine. They have spent their lives gathering all this stuff, and to get rid of it would be the total opposite of what they had spent all that time doing. But you know what - it's really freeing to just let it go.

Jonathan and I mentioned several times this summer that we wish we had a couple days back in TO to clean out the storage unit and get rid of another whack of stuff. We didn't have time on this last trip, but I definitely think we'll make time next trip. I hate living in two places and having stuff to worry about in two places. I am looking forward to purging a lot of it and having it all in one place again someday.

Anyway - back to the subject of this post. September. It's always been a good month for me. My birthday, the start of school, the beginning of autumn, September has always been my favourite month. While I am not starting school this month, and it's springtime here instead of autumn, I am going to be celebrating a birthday in a few days. And this year it's the big 30th. How excited am I?? Actually, I am pretty excited. You all know how I have always loved my birthday. But this year, I am really excited. I am leaving my 20's behind. No doubt they have been some good years. But I know that my 30's are going to be even better.

I am looking forward to trying things I have never tried before. I am looking forward to seeing more of the world and going places I haven't been yet. I have to laugh when I look back at myself when I was turning 20. How far I have come. What a different person I am now. What a different perspective I have on life and love and the future. What a wealth of friends I have. I could never have imagined the interesting people that would come into my life and make it as joyful as it is.

Anyway - I suppose I am waxing a bit nostalgic, being as it's a milestone and all. I just wanted to share with you all how much I appreciate you. You all make my life better, more fun, and more interesting. So, thanks!

Holidays in North America

Thought I would share a few of our favourites from the trip. We had a few days of lovely weather, and some rainy days as well, but in all, it was fun to have a few weeks of summer in the midst of our winter. Started out the visit with a week in Canada visiting family.
Then we spent a weekend in Mackinaw and I took my first trip to the Island. Absolutely beautiful in summer. Can't imagine living there in winter though! Such amazing flowers and scenery. Fun to finally see the Grand Hotel in person.
Also had to include some pictures of a yummy club sandwich and a bacon and blue cheese burger... words can't describe how good those were! After Mackinaw we had a couple of fun days in Michigan... visited the Newaygo Country Fair and saw some of the local wildlife.
Finished out the visit with a day at Canada's Wonderland, where I decided I am now too old for rollercoasters.
So nice to see so many friends and family... wish we'd had time to see everyone. Anyone we missed - feel free to come visit us!

Elvis has left the building

Yes, we survived our trip back to Canada/USA and a pretty good time was had by all. The flights were long and miserable and I managed to bring back yet ANOTHER killer sinus infection... but in all, it was a good trip. A bit depressing to see our stuff living in a storage unit, however. So fun to see friends and family though. Kinda made me homesick, and at the same time, made me glad I am so far removed from all the drama. Haha. (Love you guys!)

We are back and settling into normal life again. My new job is going great, and Jon's job is as busy as ever. I think his entire company breathed a collective sigh of relief when he showed up for work on Monday. LOL

It's nearly spring here and I can't wait for warm weather and longer daylight hours!!! I totally have spring fever. It's getting nicer though - average daily temp this week was 62F with sunny skies!

I promise to blog more about the trip later, and include some pictures (including some of a particularly good baconandbluecheeseburger) but Jon and I are off to see Elvis this evening in Bankstown. Apparently he is in town for one night and one night only. Got to dust off the leisure suit and blue suede shoes.

Going on Tour

Well, the weather here has been crap, so I am REALLY hoping that ya'll are having a nice summer back there... because we are on our way over! We leave this Friday and are on the road for 17 days. I think after that, I will be very happy to come back "home" to Australia. I am not really looking forward to being in a strange bed for that long. But, we are looking forward to seeing everyone and getting some sun. It's been one of the coldest winters on record here... which figures, since it was the coolest and wettest summer ever. So, we are really excited for some warm weather and a few days of summer. Maybe when we get back, we'll have brought the sun with us! Here's hoping.

We arrive in TO on Friday evening, and will be in TO, SSM and Michigan for the following 2 weeks. It will be a crazy couple of weeks, and we'll be travelling several thousand miles, both in the air and in the car. Hope to see most of you and catch up!

On another note, I have finally received a really exciting job offer and will be starting something new after we arrive home. Hoping this is the one I have been waiting for, and glad to look forward to coming back refreshed and ready to go. Thanks to many of you for your amazing references. Much appreciated!

Have to get back to packing now. See you all soon!

Well, I jinxed it.

Todays local headline:

Sydney, Melbourne brace for cold snap

Winter has well and truly arrived for the southern states, with areas around Melbourne experiencing snow and Sydney bracing for its coldest week of the year. But it’s proving a bonanza for those heading to the snowfields, with big dumps falling overnight and more on the way.
A cold front from the subpolar area that swept through NSW yesterday has brought the mercury down to extremely chilly level — with colder conditions to come. "Tomorrow will be a degree or two cooler in the metro area, dropping down to about 14 (58F)," Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Jane Golding said. "The overnight minimum will be as low as seven, which is about 4 (38F) degrees colder than last night."
But spare a thought for those in the city's western suburbs, which are expected to drop to a near-freezing one degree overnight. Statistically, today, tomorrow and Thursday are recognised as Sydney's coldest days of the year. Any improvement is not expected until at least Sunday when the temperatures should return to the high teens (60s).
One area appreciating the cold snap is Australia's snow resorts, which have finally had their first decent fall of the season. All Victorian and NSW resorts overnight received at least 10cm of snow, with long-suffering Mount Buller enjoying an excellent 20cm (8 inches).

Yep... it was definitely chilly today. I even wore a coat. Jonathan didn't of course. Nothing new there. We will be "celebrating" the cold weather in style this weekend at a Christmas in July party with a bunch of new friends.

Life, Work, Food and The Pope

Well, if there is anyone out there in Internetland who has been missing my updates, I should apologise. Life has sort of gotten away with me here and I can't say it's been a bad thing. Seems that after 6 months of living in Oz, I have settled into a lovely routine (lovely, as Australians love to say.)

Shortly after my last blog entry, I left my boring job and (as much as I hate to admit this) accepted another job which has turned out to be equally as boring. I just don't understand the professional culture here. I am really struggling with work. I just want to WORK. I want to go in each day to the office and have a full day of work to do. I am seriously worried that I am not going to find that here. I may have to leave Real Estate completely. Sad, since I just completed my Certificate of Registration exam. Sigh. Who knows. Maybe the right job will present itself at some point. I have been meeting with a new recruiter, so you never know.

Ok, enough about work. (Bloody depressing topic.) So - Jonathan and I got a chance to see Gordon Ramsey cook live in Sydney a few weekends back, and that was pretty amazingly great. If you don't know who Gordon Ramsey is, I can't help you. But he was great. As was the Food Show that he was here for. Really fun way to spend a Saturday.

Last weekend a couple of friends decided to have a real American bbq and invited us over. We brought guacemole and salsa. How American of us, eh? LOL. They did burgers on the grill and a good time was had by all. We have made some fun friends here and we seem to find something entertaining to do most weekends. Sydney is good for some sort of event that has to do with either music or food (or both!) pretty much every weekend. We have made a real effort to check out lots of little neighborhoods and kitchy shops and events. It's been fun being a tourist in our own city. We never made enough of an effort to do that in TO.

Next week the Pope is in town. It's World Youth Day... which is really inaccurate. They should be calling it World Youth WEEK. Now, I am all about the youth of the world coming together to learn and grow and all that. But this WYD thing is really messing everyone up. They are closing the bridge and most of the area streets to public traffic. Public transit is going to be a nightmare... expecially since CityRail is talking about going on strike right in the middle of the week. Niiice. Well... I am sure that however it goes, all halfamillion or so visitors will enjoy the winter weather we have been having. It's been a balmy 70F each day and sunny. Can't beat that! The Snowy Mountains (4 hours south) got 4 feet of snow last week. SOOO glad we don't live there.

We are headed "home" to Canada and the US in just a few weeks now. We'll be travelling 25 July through 11 August. Looking forward to seeing everyone. Have to admit, I am most looking forward to shopping for cheap stuff and eating cheap fast food. Oh, and buying books. Heaps and heaps of books. Yes, they do have them here... but I refuse to pay $35 for a paperback. No, I am not kidding.

Ok - off to bed. I promise to write more later. Maybe. ;)

Waves and Wine

Last Friday Jonathan had to travel north of Sydney for a job. We decided to make a weekend of it and stay on the coast. There is a beach about 2 hours north of Sydney on Anna Bay that is just amazing. It is called "the largest moving coastal sand mass in the southern hemisphere." And let me tell you... it's amazing. I thought the Sleeping Bear dunes were something... they are tiny compared to this beach. It just goes on forever. Pretty amazing.

The tide was coming in this morning as we walked on the beach. Makes you feel pretty small in the grand scheme of things.

After we spent the morning on the coast, we drove west to the Hunter Valley. Known for it's vineyards, the Hunter Valley is a beautiful inland valley home to many dairies, wineries, cheese factories and b&b's. Similar to Napa, it's a beautiful place, full of rolling hills and gorgeous scenery.

The Hunter put on a brilliant display of it's autumn colours and charmed us with it's sunshine and fresh air. We had a chance to do lots of taste testing and driving and photo taking. We decided we definitely have to go back and take some of the local cooking classes offered. How fun to learn to make fresh pasta in this very Italy-like place.

Just as the day was ending and we were headed home, we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a herd of kangaroos hanging out in a roadside vineyard. I couldn't get close enough for a good photo... but I promise you it was pretty cool. They just stood there and stared at me before casually hopping further down the rows. Camera shy, I suppose.

Winter in Summer

Well, it's full on winter here now. Cold and rainy and dark. Seems bizarre to think that it is June. June has always been a month of sunshine and gardens and going to the beach. A month of bbqs and ice cream and bare feet. Not so in Australia. Here in Sydney, it's a month of warm jackets, socks and rain. LOTS of rain. It's supposed to rain for the next 3 months... and that is apparently good news here. Weird.
Other than the weather, life goes on as usual here for us. Jonathan is still travelling quite a bit. Which is becoming a little more frustrating, as the weather gets bad. He spends a lot of time waiting for delayed flights. On the bright side, we are racking up the domestic airmiles, so we'll soon get a nice weekend away out of it. Maybe we'll head down to Adelaide and swim with sharks?!
My job situation is still not great. Not much to do, which is hindered by the downturn in the market recently. Starting to feel the shockwaves from the troubled US market and the results of 13 interest rate hikes here just in the past 24 months. Not to mention the fact that petrol is now almost $7 per gallon here and food prices are nearing record highs, as they are worldwide. So... obviously real estate is an interesting business to be in these days. However, I had a great offer this week from a smaller local company who has less overhead and is looking for an all round manager for their 5 person office. I will most likely be making the move, even though I will be sad to leave the fun office I am in now. I have made some good friends there, and change is always hard. But, I feel that they will have to downsize eventually anyway, so it's probably best to move on now.
Other than that, things are good here in Oz. We are really enjoying living a simpler life. I don't know if I ever want to go back to having 2 cars and a lengthy commute. And I am really not sure we will ever want to go back to rural/suburban life again. We might be true "city slickers" after this! (sorry, Mom!) We have decided to stay in the apartment we are in now. It's been good for the most part, and unless something major changes, we'll most likely be here for awhile.

Sure would be nice to hear from friends and family back home. Seems a little like we dropped off the face of the earth lately. Word to the wise folks - skype. It's free, easy, and well, free. So sign up and give us a call. Or email. Email is always good too.

And one last thing... (warning. the following may be offensive to some viewers.) I just have to add a big whoop! and a Go Obama! Just because I can. LOL

At long last

Finally, the dishwasher is fixed. It only took 3 months and me nagging them daily. I am so glad to have it back. My kitchen finally feels clean again. Very good news.

Six Months

Hard to believe it's been 6 months since Jonathan arrived in Australia. And I've been here 4 months now. Sometimes it feels like forever, and other days it feels as if we are just off the boat. There are so many things I love about Australia. I love how much sunshine there is here. Sometimes it seems like it's sunny every day. But winter is on it's way and that may change.

I love that everything you could ever need is just a short walk away. The grocery store, the fruit market, the library, everything. I love not having a car or having to worry about the price of gas ($5.54 USD per gallon). We are enjoying the opportunity to explore new places and try new things. We have learned so much about Australia that we never knew. And... we've learned a whole new language! Those of you who think Aussies speak English have never had a convo with an Aussie! LOL

Other days it's hard to be so far from friends and family. As easy as it is to forget we are on the other side of the world, we are reminded how out of the loop we are each time we call "home." Sure would be nice to hear from you all more often! We are just a phone call away... and Skype is free!

Currently, we are planning a trip back to North America in late July and early August. It will most likely be a 2 week trip with a few days in both hometowns (the Soo and Grand Rapids), as well as a few days in Toronto. We'd love to see you all and will post an itinerary once it is final.

Looks like the apartment hunt is on the back burner for awhile. We couldn't find anything we liked more than where we are now, so we decided to stay here for awhile. The dishwasher still hasn't been fixed, but I suppose I am used to it by now. Whatever.

Jonathan is still travelling quite a bit for work. Seems that he is at the airport at least a couple days a week lately. My job isn't going as well. While it's close to home and has great workmates... it's just not challenging enough. I am not one for sitting around and doing nothing. So, I have been looking for another position again. No drama, just want to do something that feels a bit more meaningful.

Oh! And a quick bit of good news... we found a local restaurant supply place that apparently sells Mexican products, including corn tortillas! So, we'll have to check that out. We are SO missing Mexican food. It just does NOT exist here. Weird.