We had the laziest weekend ever. It was great! I'll post more about it tomorrow, but in the meantime (just so that you know that I'm aware that I haven't been doing all that well with posting every day!), I'll post this. :)

"O" My!

Steve and I stopped into a "News Agent" after work tonight. It's basically a convenience store/card shop in one. They sell lots of magazines and so I took a look. For the most part, you can get all the big named magazines here but they are the Aussie version, so for example, you can get Cosmopolitan Australia or Marie Claire Australia. Exactly the same as the ones at home, just with Australian styles, prices, etc...They are still more expensive than home, well because most things are, but they are reasonably priced (say between $7.95 and $10). However, if you do get a magazine from "America" as they say here, it's SO, SO expensive!!! I saw Oprah's "O Magazine" tonight and the April edition was selling for $19.50!!! Crazy! I was in serious shock the first time I saw that! I may have even posted about this ages ago, but hey, if I did, it's worth a second mention! I guess it does have to travel pretty far, but still! I suppose I shouldn't complain...all the March copies that no one could afford to buy were on sale for $10.95 each, so you can still read Oprah, if you really want to, just a month behind!

Rough week

Isn't it amazing how a short week can seem like the longest week ever?! I'm not enjoying this week at all!!! I think it's always hard getting in the swing of things again after 4 days off but the fact that I cheated on my diet and ate lots of things I shouldn't over the Easter weekend hasn't helped. My belly is still not feeling totally better and my energy has been extremely sluggish. Oh, and I somehow managed to pull a muscle in my hip flexer and have been in a lot of pain! I had a massage on Tuesday, which helped make walking easier (I literally limped into the massage!) but I still feel it and have to put heat on it every night. I have a bruise on my butt from where the massage therapist had to try to work out the muscle. Needless to say, it was a very painful massage! Good times. So, although I'm wishing it was Friday, or better yet, Friday night, I'm off to have a Thursday. Here's hoping it's a good one!

Flower Power

This monster flower has just bloomed on the cactus that grows off the palm tree right by the entrance to our front door. It really is huge, as you can see by the picture of me standing beside it. I couldn't help but notice it when I called Jesse in from his bedtime pee!

Easter Dog

Here's a pic of Jes that Rej took. Isn't he just the cutest puppers ever?! He looks a bit like a girl dog though, next year we'll get him blue bunny ears! For some more great Easter pics, check out Clo and Rej's blog...http://clo-and-rej.blogspot.com/ .

Easter Weekend

Four days off work and it still feels like it flew by! We had a great weekend though, not too busy. On Good Friday, we woke up bright and early for Steve's race (as he already posted) and then headed off to Byron Bay with Rej, Clo and the Purdy family. We had a busy day of wave jumping, snorkling and playing on the beach. We got home late that night and decided to just take it easy on Saturday. We ran a few errands and got some stuff done around the house. Yesterday (Sunday) we hosted a pot luck Easter dinner for anyone who didn't have plans for Easter dinner. There ended up being 12 adults and 2 kids and LOTS of food!!! We made a ham and everyone else brought the trimmings and dessert. Yummy! I should have remembered to take a picture of all the food before everyone "dipped up". Oh well, next time! Here's some pics that I did take at dinner...

Why is it parties always end up in the kitchen?
Darryl trying to break into our spare room. The door got locked and Shamus was inside. We don't have a key. It's not nearly as tramatic as it sounds. Shamus was watching a movie and didn't even notice!
The ladies.
Darryl and Stacey.
The boys.
Clo, looking very Eastery!
Steve and Kristy (I work with Kristy...Steve is her hubby).
Beautiful Breagha.
Kitchen crew (Kate, Amy and Stacey).

Today, we're just relaxing and hoping to get Snugs out for a swim. Back to work tomorrow. Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

First Race Done!

Cari and I got up nice and early (5:30am) and headed off to the Botanical Gardens for the Easter 10km Fun Run. It was a beautiful morning, perfect temp for a run. I had a goal of running 10km in less then 54 minutes, and in the back of my head I was hoping to do it in less than 52 minutes. My time ended up being 51 minutes 43 seconds (51:43) so I beat my goal time! Last year at the Jetty to Jetty 10km fun run in Redcliffe, my time was 56:06, so I've shaved almost 5 minutes off my time. Hopefully by the end of this season I can get my 10km time under 50 minutes.

We brought Jesse along, he didn't run, he was just there to cheer me on.

Cari thought I was stretching in the above pic, but I think I'm debating whether or not to go pee before the start....

Everyone lined up and ready to go....

Cari wasn't able to get a good pic of me finishing the race, she didn't expect me to finish so soon. I told her I would likely finish around the 54 minute mark.... So when I rocked in under 52 minutes she wasn't ready.....that'll teach her to listen to me...

The next race I'm doing is April 20th, but this time I'm doing a half marathon, which is 21km... My only goal for that race is to finish. Also, depending on how jet legged my mother is, she might be there to cheer me on....

Steve (my legs hurt today) Dickinson

First race of the year!

Friday morning is my first 10km race of 2008, its a Easter fun run held in the City. I have a full race calendar this year with 2 half marathons (21 km), a couple of 30+ km trail races in the Blue Mountains and a hand full of 10km races. I'm looking forward to running this winter, it's helped me loose a lot of weight (40 pounds), and how I'm hooked.

Fat Steve (left) not so fat Steve (right)

I love snail mail!!!

I got my first Easter card in the mail today! Thanks so much Lynne and Ingram for thinking of us and taking the time to send us a card and letter! It made my day! Three more sleeps until the Easter Bunny comes!!!:)

Babbling...

Hmmm...desperately trying to think of something to write about today...We really haven't done too much so far this week. I am working evenings this week and it's been a nice change. I'd like to say that I get to sleep in but that doesn't happen. I do get to do some stuff around the house though and have a little "me time", which is nice. I have really come to appreciate time by myself...it's nice to spend time doing whatever you what, whenever you want! I've got really good at entertaining myself, which I love! Slowly, finding more and more hobbies that I enjoy and make me feel good! I'm really looking forward to the Easter weekend. Both Friday and Monday are stat holidays here, which is awesome! We're still deciding what we want to do, but are hoping to do a couple of day trips for sure. We were going to do a dive but my lungs are still not 100% better from the nasty chest cold that I'm just getting over, so I figure it's best not to push it. In other news, I got my hair cut today. I'm pretty happy with it! I will have to post a picture soon! Okay, off to bed I go. Sorry about the lack of umph in this post but, hey, at least I posted! :)

PS. Is there anything better than the smell of freshly washed clothes that have just come in off the line? Seriously, I love it!

Lamington National Park

Steve and I went to Lamington National Park on Saturday. It's just over a 2 hour drive from Brisbane and is part of a world heritage area. We got a bit lost on the way there and ended up deep in the country. It was incredibly beautiful...

...but very crazy roads! Roads just a bit wider than our little Yaris but meant for 2 way traffic. The speed limit was 100 km per hour in some places, even though the road was very narrow and curly!
There were lots of cows everywhere. In some parts, there were no gates, so the cows could just walk onto the crazy narrow, curly roads, if they wanted! The roads were covered in cow poop! Moo Poo was for sale everywhere...$1 a bag. These cows didn't like that I came to take their picture and they all took off...
Cute little store, in a wee tiny town...
Once we finally got un-lost, the drive up the mountain to the park was just as narrow and just as curly! The first thing we saw when we arrived at the park were beautiful tropical birds and bush turkeys everywhere!!! We had bought some bird seed at the gift shop and realized that this one particular spot was the place to use it. If you put seed in your hand, Australian King Parrots, and Crimson Rosellas would come and eat out right out of your hand! The birds have been coming to be fed in this spot since the 1920s. It all started when a King Parrot was injured and someone fed it, to help nurse it back to health. Even after it was better, it would come to eat there and started bringing friends with him. It was pretty cool, well except when the King Parrot landed on my head, that just freaked me out a little! Steve very patiently waited for the birds...
The birds were beautiful! Can you believe these wild birds just came and ate out of our hands?!

Steve was like the Bird Man. He'd patiently wait for all the birds and then give them to the little kids when they came to him. Needless to say, the kids stayed quite close to Steve...

As you all know, I'm not crazy about birds, and the whole putting seed in my hand and waiting for the birds to come freaked me out a little! But, seeing as 4 year olds were doing it and really, how often in life do you get a King Parrot landing on you to eat?? So, I decided to suck it up and do it!
You can tell by this picture that I'm not too sure about it!!! Look at my face! It was pretty cool though! Their little feet felt so strange gripping on your finger! After the birds, we went on a tree top walk....

You walked on this thing...it was pretty bouncy and high up!

You could climb quite high up this ladder. The view from the top was very pretty.
The trees were huge!

I think this is a fig tree...
We took a walk through the Botanical Gardens...I really like this photo of me and Steve...

We saw this wild Wallaby...

He wasn't shy and came over pretty close! We also saw one when we were driving. Now I just need to see a wild kangaroo!
The drive down the mountain was just as narrow and just as curly, with just as many cows...

It was so nice to see some countryside for a change...
We stopped at a little cafe and gift shop on the way down the mountain. This mean dog lived there...I thought it was so funny to see the "Beware of Dog" sign and then see this guy snoozing!

The view from the cafe was absolutely breathtaking! Everything, everywhere we went was so green and lush and there were little ponds of water in all the fields, where you'd see cows cooling themselves off. The rain has been great for that!

The cafe...

They bred llamas there. The baby llamas were SO cute!! You can see one of the little guys in the pic...he's the little white one...

We also stopped at O'Reilly's vineyard on the way home. They make wine and breed platypus. So, of course we bought a bottle of their "Platypus Play" wine. It's supposed to go great with Thai, so we're going to take it with us the next time we go to our favorite BYO Thai place. We didn't see the platypus but apparently, in the river behind this cheesy picture, there is a whole family of them. The lady told me that you had to be very patient if you wanted to see one, as they are very shy.

The property was beautiful and so peaceful!

The grape vines...
It was a full day! We had such a great time!

Sunday, we spend relaxing and taking Jesse for a swim. We did our first BBQ dinner in the park with the Purdys on Sunday evening. It was such a nice evening but I forgot my camera! Next time! I think BBQs in the park are going to be something we do more often. They're so much fun and so easy!

Now, we get to look forward to a 4 day weekend! Yippee!

Camp out...

Steve set up our camping stuff in the living room this morning to see how big the tent really is and if we can all fit inside. I forgot how much Jesse likes hanging out in the tent. He made himself quite comfy and didn't want to come out. We went to Lamington National Park on Saturday (pictures of that to come tomorrow!) and we really liked it. We're hoping to do our first camping trip there in April. Unfortunately, dogs aren't allowed, so for now Jesse will have to settle for camping in our living room...