Hi!

It's been busy lately and I'm pooped, so I haven't taken much time to blog. Thought I would check in and say hi. Not a whole lot going on with us in the last couple weeks. I'm really enjoying the warmer weather and we took advantage of a beautiful weekend last weekend and headed to the beach with Jesse. It wasn't all that relaxing because Jes doesn't understand the concept of entertaining himself and barked at us the whole time to throw his ball. He enjoyed himself though! So, all and all it wasn't so bad. We had a tired, well behaved puppy for the evening! I'm glad that Friday has come around again and am looking forward to sleeping in and a couple of
get -togethers. I'll try to write about it sooner than I wrote about last weekend! :)

Bridge to Brisbane Update

The official results came in for the Bridge to Brisbane Run/Walk.
I ended up with a 10km time of 45:18
I ran in the Male age 30-34 category. Out of 1603 Male 30-34 10km runners, I came in 154th.
Out of 26,356 10km runners/walkers I placed 1020.

Steve (bring on the 8hr Enduro) Dickinson

Must always carry camera.

Damn. I MUST make sure to always carry my camera with me. Always. The one time I don't, we go on a bike ride and see a snake RIGHT in the middle of the bike path. He wasn't happy. There was a guy there directing people around it and he had called the council to come and remove it because for some unknown reason, the snake didn't move, he just stuck his head up and glared at us. This is right in the city on the river walk path. Man, I wish I had brought my camera!

Spring

Everyone here says that there isn't really seasons. It's just warm and warmer. I agree that the season changes aren't as dramatic as Canada but they are definitely still there. Maybe because it's our second spring here and I just know what to look for or maybe just because I have been looking so forward to spring all winter but either way I can most definitely see the signs that spring has sprung.
Here's a few of them:
~ the sun is waking up way earlier, which is great for getting up on the days I work at 7 but terrible for the weekends!
~ the sun is hanging around later into the evening
~ it's much warmer at night and in the morning...I have already taken the second blanket off the bed and think I might retire the flannel sheets for another year today
~ the geckos are back
~ the birds are starting to swoop!!!! Jesse has already been swooped once and the fear is starting to set in when I'm walking!
~ new flowers are starting to bloom, we have flowers in bloom all year around but there are some that just bloom in the spring
~the sun is getting way hotter and has bite...need to always have sunscreen on now if you're outside or you will burn
~ today when I walked Jes I saw a water dragon....the first one that I've seen in a couple of months...
~ ...and Jes can no longer be walked in the middle of the day. Way too hot. Poor puppy is panting pretty hard after the walk we just returned from.
~I have that usually spring motivation and the inspiration to do something creative. The big difference though is that at home when spring shows it's signs, I start thinking of Easter crafts and cards, here I'm thinking of Christmas!

Okay, that's my list for now...has anyone else noticed anything?

In other news....I'm out of shape. Terribly out of shape. It's a bit embarrassing really and it's even worse because Steve is in the best shape of his life. It's shocking what good shape he's in. So, today is day 1 of "Cari Gets Fit". I don't need to look like a muscle woman or anything, I'd just like to be able to sprint a few metres and not feel like I am going to die. Plus, I'll enjoy mountain biking a lot more if I actually have some ability to do cardio. Anyway, I'm putting this on the blog to motivate myself. I'm hoping that it'll help me stick to it, if everyone knows about it! I'm setting realistic goals or else I won't do it.
Here's the plan for now...
~Walk/Run with Jesse 5 times a week. I want to build my cardio endurance up so that eventually I will be able to run the whole loop that I do (it's about 5 km)
~Go for a bike ride by the river 3 times a week
~Do yoga 1 time a week (I think I will get a video)
I want to build on the goals as time passes, but I'm going to start with this. I'm hoping to be in better shape but the time we go to Tasmania at Christmas. I'll let you know how it goes...

Sorry for the no picture post...I'll try to post some photo signs of spring soon!

Girls Nite!

Last night a group of us went out for a little ladies night out. Dinner, dancing and drinks was the plan. We ate and had drinks at a restaurant downtown and then went to a bar nearby for more girly chat and more drinks. We ended in an area of the city called the Valley, basically just down the street from where we live. It's a busy part of town on a Saturday night! Lots of people and stuff going on. We danced the rest of the night away at a gay bar that played great music! I had a fantastic time! I won't say too much about the pics, they're pretty self-explanatory...

The cab ride to the Valley was fun...the cabbie turned up the music and didn't even seem to mind all the girls trying to talk...and sing over each other!

If you look closely, you can see the crowds of people on the other side of the street...

Dancing was a lot of fun. It's been ages since I've been out dancing! It's interesting though how even at a gay bar, there still managed to be creepy straight guys trying to hit on us!

After we left the bar, I found out that the boys had done their own night out and were just across the street at another bar. I met up with Steve and went for a kebab, kind of equivalent to a slice of pizza at home. You know, the greasy junk you eat after a good night out on the town...so gross it's good!
Thanks for a wonderful evening ladies!

Picture Post!

I am way behind on my blog. I've been under the weather with a very sore neck that cost me about $250 in one week to have fixed. Totally sucks. But, I'm feeling way better, not from the physio that I tried twice but the trusty ole acupuncture that I went to on Thursday night. I felt like a million bucks on Friday! Why I didn't just go for acupuncture in the first place, I don't know...lesson learned. Anyway, we've got a busy weekend planned, so I figure there will be lots more to post in a couple days, so I better get up-to-date! Here's a bt of what's been happening...

BBQ at our house

Last weekend we had a little bbq at our place. Rej, Clo and the Purdys joined us. Nothing fancy, but still nice to have company over...

The kids chillin' on the bed waiting to watch a movie on the laptop...


Shamus Cam

Shamus took these next few pics at the bbq..not bad...maybe we've got a future photographer on our hands!

Kate and Morgan's Dinner Party

Kate and Morgan hosted a lovely dinner this past Wednesday night. Kate is a fantastic cook and made an amazing Indian dinner. Thanks Kate and Morgan for having us! I didn't get a lot of pics, but here's a few from the evening...

Cupcakes, gluten and dairy free of course!

Rob, who will be leaving us soon for LA...

The girls...Stacey, Breagha and I went for spring pedicures last weekend...it was really nice. We need to treat ourselves to girlie stuff more often!


Tree Chopping

The landlord is having the massive palm tree at the front of our house chopped down...it's too much upkeep and the neighbor has complained about it. It's kind of a pity because it's a really cool tree with a cactus growing on it. Although, having it gone will make it make it sunnier in our house, keep the bats that squawk in it at night quiet and best of all, there will be none of those orange ball things for Jesse to eat! So, I guess it's not such a pity after all...

It's very loud at our house at the moment...lots of power saw noises and trees being ground into dust!

That about covers the past week...Hope everyone is well!

Bridge to Brisbane Baby! New Personal Best Time!!

On Sunday I ran the Bridge to Brisbane, which is a charity run to raise money for Youngcare, who provide housing and lifestyle opportunities for young Australians who require full-time care.
So, up I got at 4am Sunday morning, and 45 minutes later I woke up the wife.....Off we went to pick up Darryl and Mike to join 36 thousand other runners and walkers. I ran a new personal best 10km time of 45 minutes 19 seconds, shaving 2 minutes off my last 10km race time.

I stole the next two images off the net.

Cari got a pic of me just before I crossed the finish line.

Darryl, Me and Mike after the race. Don't pay attention to the kid, he snuck his way into the shot.

Another kid trying to steal my thunder.

A dude in a plane was writing stuff in the sky, guess who this ad is for...

The Purdy's.

A New Toy!

I would like to introduce you to Mr Garmin Oregon 300..... He is a the new Garmin touch screen GPS. With our upcoming Fraser Island camping trip and our Christmas road trip to Tasmania, I somehow convinced, begged and lied to Cari that we needed a good GPS. This little baby does it all, turn by turn routing on roads, electronic compass, barometric altimeter, ability to add a heart rate monitor and cadence sensor for your bike, and its water proof. I can also upload maps that other people have created.

Large Screen

This is how big it is next to my head...

I actually added it to our Tasmania trip budget, by added I mean sneaked in.....

I can't really justify this thing at all, it's purely a toy. I know I'll....I mean we'll , get a lot of use out of it, we're always doing things on weekends like camping, hiking, biking and exploring, so it is a useful toy.

Steve (follow the leader) Dickinson