Cranky but cute!

My Aunt Gen sent me this picture via email on my birthday (thanks Aunt Gen!). I think I was about 3 or 4 here? Carol, you'll remember! I was a flower girl in my cousin's wedding and I remember I didn't want to walk down the aisle with the ring bearer. I have no idea why. Perhaps just because I felt like being difficult? Nah, I think I was just being super shy! Steve said I still use the same pouty face now when I'm not getting my way. Some things never change, I guess:) Anyhoo, this picture brought back a few nice memories, so I thought I'd share. I had a fabulous birthday. Steve spoiled me rotten and your birthday emails and facebook messages made my day. Thanks! I'll be back soon with more details of my big day! xo

On the eve of my 30th birthday...

...I can't help but reflect on the past decade. Wow. My 20s were pretty incredible! Lots of really happy and really sad moments. Lots of ups and lots of downs. All and all, no regrets. I live a pretty darn good life, I must say.

(The last picture of me in my 20s!)

Here's a few of the most memorable moments of my 20s...

~ Steve and I moved in together for the first time.
~ We got Jesse, the complete love of my life. I mean, besides Steve of course!:)
~ My Dad passed away. I was there when it happened. Definitely a moment in time I will never, ever forget.
~ I graduated university.
~ I moved to Montreal.
~ Steve and I had a long distance relationship for 8 long months.
~ I married my soul mate.
~ My Grandpa Henley passed away. I flew home for the funeral. It cost me a lot at the time but was worth every penny.
~ I moved to Brisbane, Australia.
~ I moved to Melbourne, Australia.
~ My Grandma Gillmore passed away. I couldn't be at the funeral and that broke my heart. I visited her grave when I finally made it home and said my goodbyes.
~ I traveled a lot.
~ I met wonderful, truly amazing people. People that have inspired me, laughed with me, cried with me, gossiped and been silly with me. People that will be friends in my heart forever.
~ I worked as a waitress, a cashier at Sobeys (supermarket), an early childhood educator, a fit model for Suzy Shier, a receptionist in a holistic medicine clinic, an assistant director for an after school care program and a kindergarten teacher. I worked a lot of jobs!
~ I gained 10 pounds.
~ I bleached my hair. I dyed my hair red. I dyed my hair brown. I chopped it off super short and grew it long. I changed my hair a. lot.
~ I started this blog. This online journal of my life.

It's been a pretty amazing last 10 years and as much as I grumble, I'm sure the next 10 will be just as adventurous. So, let's bring it on!:)

Steve and I both have the day off work tomorrow and he's got something planned. I have no idea what it is, and I can't even begin to tell you how much it's making me crazy! Be back sometime soon, with all the details!

Finally...the Sydney pictures!

We had a really fantastic time in Sydney a few weekends back with Darryl, Stacey and the kids. It was great to catch up with them before they moved back to Canada and really nice to tour and explore Sydney. That's the Sydney Opera House behind us in this picture.

Bumming around the city...

(Darryl getting proposed to...)

Taking the water taxi to the Opera House...

(waiting)

(moving)

(Wow! The Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House!)

(on the steps of the Opera House)

Bondi Beach...

(Steeeeeve!)

Anzac Day Parade...

A girl who put herself into a box and then made us feel so guilty about giving money that we each gave her $10...

(told ya...in a box)

Manly...

(Steve on kid patrol)

Great times! But I have to say, I like Melbourne better than Sydney. Which is fortunate, seeing as I live in Melbourne:)

The countdown to 30.

Today during circle time with my kinders, we were doing the usual...sharing how we feel, talking about the weather, measuring a turtle we've been growing in water, doing our classroom calendar, etc... We always put holidays and birthdays on the calendar, to help us excitedly count down to the big day and as most of you know, my birthday is next week AND I'll be turning 30. Today, one of the kids asked how old I was going to be. This is how the conversation went...

Kid: "How many will you be when it's your birthday?"

Me:" I'm going to be turning 30 years old."

Kid: Blank stare. Followed by, "That's so many. Soon you'll be 100 and then you'll die!"

Other Children: All staring at me with very serious expressions on their faces, nodding their heads in total agreement.

Me: "Yes, it is a bit old, isn't it? Thank you for reminding me."

Oh my goodness!

Where oh where have I been? I've been having a pretty poopy time lately actually. I've been sick, exhausted and just plain ole bummed out. Lots going on but I'm physically feeling a bit better today and slowly feeling more like myself overall. This is going to be a quick post but just before I go, I want to leave you with this picture Steve snapped on his Iphone the other morning when he drove me to work. I don't know why, but this truck TOTALLY cracked me up. It just seems so...Aussie. Look at the license plate and the name on the website address. Plus, I had to totally do a double take to check if they were real animals!

Happy Birthday Connie!

It's my sister Connie's birthday today. I miss her a lot, especially since I came back from Canada last December. I had such a great time with her when I was home, being silly and hanging out. I hope she knows how much I think of her and miss her everyday! Happy Birthday Connie! Hope it's a good one! Love ya! xoxo

Redback Spider!

I just killed a Redback Spider on my kitchen counter while doing dishes. I was too scared to take it's picture before bravely squishing it with my shoe! I've never actually seen a Redback Spider before, except in an aquarium at the zoo, but there was NO mistaking the big red mark on this all black spider. It looked just like this. I'm completely freaked out. They are quite dangerous. I think it's time to move back to Canada!

PS. I'm home sick today with the stomach flu, so needless to say I haven't felt up to sorting through and posting our Sydney pics. I will soon though... promise!

Back in Melbourne!

We're back! We had a fabulous weekend in Sydney with the MacPurdys. It's sad to see them leave Australia but I'm sure their new adventure will bring them great things! I have lots of pictures to post but I'm just too sleepy. Be back tomorrow:)

Rain

I didn't have a great day today. Work was long and exhausting. I ate way to much unhealthy food and felt sick because of it. Then I came home looking forward to a much needed snuggle from Jesse, only to get home and remember that Steve dropped him off at the kennel today because we leave tomorrow morning bright and early for Sydney. I know it sounds lame but the house just felt really damp and empty without his wagging tail and smelly breath meeting me at the door! There is one big thing cheering me up at the moment...Rain. It's pouring down rain outside and sounds amazing hitting our roof. It's the only thing helping to motivate me to pack, clean and organize, all in hopes of getting it done and dusted, so I can snuggle into bed early and fall asleep listening to the rain pitter patter outside my window. I need a good night's sleep. Actually I need about a month's worth of them!
You won't hear from us for a few days because we're away until Monday, but just before I go... I want to say how thankful I am to all of you who leave me comments. I truly appreciate it! It's so nice to hear from you and it really does make my day to read what you have to say. So, thanks again for taking the time out of your little corner of the world, to post in mine. xoxo

PS. I'm way behind on email and facebook messages, so if I owe you one, I'll try to catch up soon!

Imagine found here.

Totally confused!

So just so you know, I've been a day ahead all week. Like yesterday, totally thought it was Thursday. Totally. It was only Wednesday. I even prepared for Earth Day on what I thought was Wednesday night (really Tuesday night) and only realized Wednesday morning that it wasn't yet Thursday. Did that even make sense? I'm pretty tired! So, the Earth balls I made had to wait until today...the real Thursday and the real Earth Day! Okay, now I'm just confusing myself. Seriously though, do you know how long a week feels when you're always thinking it's a day closer to the weekend than it really is?? Man.Longest.Week.EVER. Thankfully, tomorrow is finally Friday (this time I'm sure of it!) and we're heading off to Sydney to see the Purdys one last time before they move back to Canada. Looking forward to it and (bonus!) it's a long weekend to boot!:)

Image found here.

Help please!

Can anyone share a really good salsa recipe pretty please? I just tried making one I found on the internet and it's total crap and I'm dying to find a good one. I don't know what it is lately but I'm craving Mexican food all.the.time. I've had tacos 3 times in the last week, restaurant nachos and now all I can think about is homemade salsa! So, seriously, pleeeeeease send me your recipes!:)

Earth Day buzz...

Tomorrow is Earth Day and so, in preparation for the day, I've been talking about our planet with my kindergarten kids for a couple of days now. We've discussed how we can do our part to help keep our earth healthy, made earth related crafts and marked the day on the classroom calendar. I'm just not sure that the kids know what to really expect on Earth Day. They seem a little too...excited. One little girl said to me today with wide excited eyes, "I told my mom last night before I went to sleep that Earth Day is only 2 more sleeps away!!!" I'm starting to fear they expect an Earth Day Santa Claus who brings lots of presents made of recycled material or worse yet, an Earth Day kinder party with lots of cake and blue and green balloons. Yikes. In hopes of offering some sort of special treat to mark the day, and save ruining the hopes of all upcoming holidays in each of their 4 year old hearts forever, I made Earth shaped Rice Bubble (sorry, that's what they're called in Aus!) balls. It was an experiment but with the help of my handy hubby and lots of butter on our hands, we rolled those babies up in no time! I figure it's the least I can do considering I was the one to first mention this oh so very exciting day;)

The funny thing about homesickness...

Saturday when Steve and I stumbled upon the exciting imported goodies, I decided to pick myself up a Duncan Hines cupcake mix. It was expensive (think $10ish for one box) but it was one of those rainbow mixes that has the colorful bits of who-knows-what-they-are throughout it. You can't get those in Australia, in fact, it's only been recently that you can actually even buy mixes for cupcakes. I know, that's just crazy but totally true. So, I decided to make the cupcakes as a little treat for the girls at work tomorrow and BAM! right in the middle of making those cupcakes, I got incredibly homesick. It was just so comforting to read instructions that said to bake in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven, not a 200 degree Celsius one. To read instructions in cups and tablespoons, not grams. I didn't have to google a single quantity in one of those online measurement converter things!
Everything just felt so...familiar.

Not to mention, I had forgotten what the cupcake mixes at home are like. Seriously, these are the fluffiest, lightest, most tastiest cupcakes I've eaten in over 3 years! AND they had confetti bits, or rainbow bits, as I like to call them:)

Just look how perfectly raised and rounded each one is. How beautifully golden they are, with the pretty little crack over the tops. AND they made a perfect 12 cupcakes, unlike Aussie mixes that make an awkward amount, requiring you to bake 2 batches. Sigh. Seriously, the more I marveled, the more homesick I felt.

It's funny you know, birthdays can come and go, holidays, you name it and I'm fine. I accept that it's all just a part of choosing to live far away. But, you give me a $10 cupcake mix from North America and I'm wanting to call my Mom and chat for hours. I'm daydreaming of baking cupcakes in a cozy kitchen on a freezing cold snowy day in Canada.

Crazy, eh? But seriously, I'm tellin' ya...they are some darn good cupcakes!

A short story...

Once upon a time the was a girl from Canada, who lived on the other side of the world in a far, far away place called Australia. Now this girl loved to bake and had a very large collection of yummy recipes. Sadly, however the girl was not able to make many of her delicious recipes since moving to the land of Aus because many of the magical ingredients needed to perfect these special concoctions were not available in the shops. Magical ingredients such as butterscotch chips, graham crackers, shortening or canned pumpkin. Yes, there were ingredients that could be used instead but they never left the cookies, or cake or pie or bread tasting just right. Until one day, something wonderful happened. Something that made the girl shriek in delight and jump up and down, right in the middle of the department store. Something that made the girl's husband stare at her like she was indeed from the planet of mars and he was from jupiter...For there on the shelf in an Australian shop stood two of the most missed magical ingredients of all time. Two ingredients that the girl had not baked with in three long years. Shortening and canned pumpkin. The girl was so happy, she did not even care about the $9.95 price tag attached to the one can of pumpkin or the $9.95 price tag attached to the one 16 oz tub of shortening. The girl took as much as she could carry in her two hands, made her way to the checkout and rushed home to make pumpkin loaf. A scrumptious bread that requires both shortening and canned pumpkin and hadn't been tasted in her home since living in Canada...

And the girl made that pumpkin loaf and ate that pumpkin loaf and shared that pumpkin loaf with her hubby (and dog) and together, they lived just a little happier from that day forward.

The end.

Let's get to know each other a little better!

I saw this on this lovely blog and thought it would be a fun way to get to know each other a little better. If you do it on your blog, leave me a comment so I know to check it out. If you don't have a blog, feel free to answer the questions in the comments!:)

1. When do you feel happiest? When I'm at home with Steve and Jesse, putting around the house, baking, crafting, etc... Basically when I'm just being me at my most relaxed, no stress, no worries. Free and creative.

2. How do you take care of yourself? I try to eat well, avoiding wheat and dairy whenever I can. I drink LOTS of water, take LOTS of vitamins, see a chiropractor once a week and walk my dog, although not nearly as much as I should. I try to make time for just me stuff as often as possible, even if it just means taking an extra few minutes to pluck my eyebrows or paint my toe nails. I really want to get back into yoga and think I might give this place a try.

3. Are you internally (by yourself) or externally (by others) motivated? Definitely motivated by others. I'm pretty crap actually at motivating myself. I really need to find a workout buddy!

4. What do you do for fun? I love eating out at restaurants, going out for drinks around the city, shopping in quaint little shops that inspire me, including thrift shopping, where I can dig for treasure, hanging with Steve and Jesse and friends. I have lots of fun at work being a kid all over again and laughing at silly random things, like today when I told one of the boys in my class he was a "Mr. Clever Pants" and he and another boy chuckled so hard at it that they had me in stitches!

5. What intimidates you? Mean people. Snobby rich people. And if I'm being honest, some of the parents of the kids at work. Oh and exercise. Definitely intimidated by exercise.

6. What is something you're proud of? I'm pretty proud of my marriage actually. Steve and I will be married 5 years next month and I think we're doing a pretty good job of it. Relationships are work and I'm proud of both of us for finding it in our hearts to compromise, forgive and love each other, even when the other person is driving us nutty!

7. Finish this sentence. I never put shoes on the table. Terrible, terrible bad luck. I truly believe that doing that is like asking for lightning to strike me dead. It actually horrifies me if I see anyone do it and Steve has learned he is NEVER to do it in our home. I actually have the kids at school not doing it!

8. Favorite vacation spot. Hmmm...this is tough. I have truly loved everywhere that I've ever been on vacation. I'm a big believer in the idea that you make your own fun, and so I've always had a terrific time where ever I have visited.

9. Today is a (rate from 1 - 10). 7. Extra points because it's Friday!!!

10. Finish this sentence. If you knew me really well you'd know I have serious baby fever! I realized the other day that I'm becoming one of those crazy ladies who stare unknowingly at women playing with their babies and kids in shopping centres. It's amazing how your baby clucking gene seems to kick in around this time, completely out of your control!

Amazing Grace

Steve and I watched the movie Amazing Grace tonight. Have you ever seen it? It's a 2006 film about the campaign against slave trade in Britain in the 1700s. Our neighbors loaned us the DVD after we went over for dinner and ended up singing the song "Amazing Grace" on their karaoke machine from the Philippines. Cause you know, that happens all the time, right? We sang it for our neighbor's elderly mother who was visiting and loves that song, right after a lovely rendition of "Achy Breaky Heart". I have to say, it's one of my favorite hymns too and learning the origin of the song makes it even nicer. They explain it in the movie but you can read more about it here. It really has left me feeling inspired. Do you ever sometimes feel like you're meant to be doing something...more? I feel that way a lot, I just have no idea what it is I should be doing. It would be incredibly helpful if I could just work that wee bit of a detail out, don't you reckon?

Kid sitting!

I've been baby, well more like kid sitting (she's 4) since Sunday and haven't had much time for anything other than playing at the park, baking cookies, dancing in the living room, reading books and playing games such as "I spy" or "I'm thinking of something that starts with letter...". One of the Moms of a little girl in my kindergarten class needed to go away for work and asked if I could watch her daughter. It's actually been a lot of fun. It's been really cute watching Jesse with a kid in the house. He's so gentle and loving. He's been snoozing on her bed and getting lots of cuddles. I'm picking up lots of extra babysitting on the side over the next few months to make some extra money, so I can be sure to go home to Canada in September for my niece's wedding. I'm a bit tired of missing all the weddings, and I refuse to miss yet another! I really love living in Melbourne, but if I'm staying put for awhile yet, I'm definitely making it my priority to not go another 3 years without visiting home! The picture is of my niece, Melissa and her fiance, Sean. Oh and Tucker, a very snuggly puppy dog!

Sydney Day Trip

I went with mom and Aunt Linda to Sydney for the day, we flew up in the morning spent the day and then flew back to Melbourne that evening.... Tiger Airways = cheap tickets..... ($265 total for the 3 of us to fly up and back, can't beat that!)Here are some random pics taken from the day, I can't be arsed to write anything more so enjoy the pictures.