The Battle...

Afternoon Chat

Fwee Fwee Fwee Fwee Fwee

The title is in deference to my nephew MrT... he's 16 months old and "Fwee fwee fwee fwee fwee fwee fwee" is his favourite utterance when he's happy and just generally running amock.

It has been great to have family visiting and just being able to hang out and do not too much. I think we have a household of people who generally are feeling the effects of low level sleep deprivation and lack of routine, but we're happy for the most part.

I know it is a bit belated, but I would like to wish everyone well for the silly season. For us 2008 has been an exciting year full of change and happiness, but we know that it hasn't be that way for everyone. I hope that 2009 brings you the best and that you thrive in every thing life offers you next year. We're waiting to meet Squiddley Diddley next year, and know that our curve of change will continue to dramatically increase, but hopefully, so will our joy.

Love to all.

A Challenge....

This was a challenge posted on a friend's blog, that had been challenged to her. The rules are if you want to find out why the names are on the list, you have to commit to the challenge for yourself (if you don't have a blog I'm sure you could facebook or whatever it).

If you want to give it a go, let me know and I'll send the list through privately to you.

It made me think. It is not a bad/mean spirited thing.

I don't usually use identifiable names on my blog, but given it is a simple list until you get the key questions, I figure most people are unidentified anyway.


1. Bob
2. Simon
3. I'm very glad to say, no one :)
4. Debi
5. me
6. Simon
7. Leigh
8. Caroline
9. Lexi
10. Anne
11. Probably me, before BabyCakes
12. I know so many...
13. Natalie
14. Lauren / BabyCakes
15. Anke (but not right now... and I have no idea why!)
16. Sean
17. Lexi
18. Maddy / BabyCakes
19. Anke
20. Leigh
21. Bob
22. Caroline
23. My bosses...
24. I'm very glad to say, no one
25. Anke
26. BabyCakes
27. Lexi
28. James
29. BabyCakes
30. Go on, admit it, you're curious as to why your name is on this list!

Sharing is Caring...

Thought some of you might like to see this...

The 4400

....it is not a sci-fi TV show, but the alleged number of Australians working at Whistler.

We took a drive up to the host villiage of the 2010 Winter Olympics yesterday and had great fun. I even threw a snowball, and had a few thrown at me.

It was a gorgeous 15 degree day in the villiage, the sun shining and glorious. Up the mountain it was about -2 degrees, and very chilly in the wind on the chairlift. The bottom section of the mountain had pretty much no snow on it and the locals have pretty much swapped to mountain biking - they hurtle down the mountain in helmets and crash gear flicking up lots of mud, and seemingly having a great time - they certainly pay for the privelege!

BabyCakes even managed to zero in on Ray Warren's voice to find a bar screening the state of origin... luckily NSW were 10-0 over QLD so we were allowed to leave.

We had a quiet day today doing laundry and such, and tomorrow we have another day scheduled with my Wifey! We don't have any plans beyond that, but it should be fun!

It's starting to feel like the end of the trip now, but it's a nice feeling. We've still got stuff to do, but equally going home doesn't panic us. We're certainly looking forward to petting the dog and cat.

Seattle = Sunburn - Who Would Have Thunk?

BabyCakes and I are now back in Vancouver at our trusty net café. We had a fantastic cruise, which was just long enough. We met some fantastic people and saw some amazing sights.

Yesterday we elected for early debarkation and managed to pick up our rental car before 8am. The rental agency upgraded us to a Camry hybrid car which has been pretty cool. We drove to Seattle with plenty of time to spare to catch our Seattle Mariners Vs San Diego Padres baseball game (having stopped by the space needle on the way).

We had hotdogs and beer and got sunburned. It was 21 degrees (celcius) and a gorgeous day - apparently there is about 10 months of rain in Seattle, so we got lucky! The Mariners even won the game, which made the local fans very happy.


Afterwards we took the Fiend's advice and went on the Seattle Underground Tour which was a very informative and interesting tour and a great way to learn about the early years of Seattle. I was a bit "tour group"-ed out by the end of it, and was glad to be left up to our own devices after that.

This morning we swung by the Pike place Markets and saw some fish being thrown about, saw the first ever Starbucks store, and bought some mugs, and on the way out of town we stopped at a Wal Mart - and bought nothing. We did look at the guns for sale - turn left at the tennis racquets, and the electronics and music/DVDs. We were surpised to see that on the whole there wasn't any real difference in price from those we get at home - sure there were a few things cheaper, but not a lot.

We then headed over the Canadian border and got settled at our new hotel. So far the car has just about used half a tank of fuel!

We're off to see if we can get tickets for a Missy Higgins concert tonight - the phone infoline was a bit ambiguous so we don't know if we can get tickets at the door... if we can, we figure the $22.50 price makes up for the whole "not seeing the local acts" guilt complex...

Hope you're all well and having fun - we haven't had any emails or phone messages so we assume that that is the case!

Cruising is Cruisy!

We're on shore at beautiful Ketchikan, Alaska and it is breathtaking - hopefully the pictures will do it justice.

The internet costs a bomb on ship so we have declined to blog from there!

We are having a blast, we've met some lovely people and got dressed up each evening for fun.

This is a cute coin operated internet cafe - but the coins are running out so this will be just a short post to let you know we're still happy and well and having fun.

BabyCakes and CrazyCatLady went to White Rock...

Yesterday we finally got me meet up with my wifey! this is a fun shot of me with my husband and my wife! BabyCakes did very well to cope with our silliness and excitement, but he even seemed to enjoy the day too. My wifey took us to a place called White Rock which is on the south side of Vancouver and is very pretty. It is a seaside town, which has a white rock in the middle of their beach which has been there forever. We had a lot of space to explore given the cold and damp weather which kept the locals away. We chatted for a long time over lunch at MobyDick's before walking up and down the waterfront.

We then went for a car tour around Vancouver, with Wifey showing us where she worked, different places in Stanley Park and the view from the Lion's Gate Bridge. We headed back to the hotel for a drink and stuff, before quickly deciding to stay in and chat over pizza rather than having to share our time together with anyone else. We discussed life the universe and everything, and Wifey even shared a few things BabyCakes didn't know abotu (and probably didn't need to know about me)... it was great fun, and it was suddenly 11pm and Wifey had to head home especially seeing as though she has to work she has to work today!

Today we head off on our cruise which is very exciting! We have a few things to do before we head down to board the ship and before they are ready to accept us! Hopefully the internet access is reasonably priced on ship and I can update the blog, otherwise you'll have to wait a week or so!

Hope everyone is well!

Maybe the Jetlag was Jetlagged....

Yesterday we had a fun day walking around Granville island, which is not actually an island anymore.

Lonely Planet served us well again, in advising us to check out "Go fish" which is a small trailer-esque shop that sells very very tasty fish and chips. Lunch was followed by a tour of Granville island Micro-brewery BC's first micro-brewery. The tour was about $10.50 each which turned into great value when there were only 5 in our group and Kim, our guide filled up a jug to fill our small tasting glasses. One can't put the beer back in the tap, so we got to share it out between us. We got along well with the other 3 (older) poms that shared the tour. The lager and pale ale were the favourites of the group, but I did "taste" a fair bit of their limited edition small batch stout. We walked around and around the island stopping to look at the public markets and many of the art and craft galleries - all the walking made us feel better about the drinking!

The afternoon saw us very tired and we fell asleep in front of the TV in the hotel room. We thought it was a nap, untill I realised it was 9pm (daylight savings means it was still light). For the second night in a row we ate dinner at about 9:30/10 o'clockish, this time at a groovy little shop called nu-bar which was cheap and tasty (thanks again LP!).

We went back to the hotel room and had a few drinks while we watched "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" before bed.

This morning saw a sleep in (and a missed phone call from my wife - eeek!) before we started our day....

Let the Honeymoon Begin!

Hello world!

We have arrived safely in Vancouver, and are even reasonably refreshed! The flight was very long, but with the excitement of knowing where we were going and why, was managable. We dicovered this morning that standard business hours here are from 10am, so spent the early part of the moning walking around looking at things that either opened early or don't need to be open to enjoy.

We've done the obligatory visit to the steam clock which is not as old as it looks, or even powered by steam these days (so Lonely Planet tells us), but hey, what is a good tourist spot without a few tall stories?

Last night we ate at a Japanese restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet guide, which really hit the spot.

I can't get over the amazing displays of tulips all over the city, but I guess that is what a brisk climate will get you! The city is peppered with an ecclectic mix of old and new buildings and the trees are just gorgeous.

We will try to remember to bring a download cable next time we come out to blog to try and include some pictures.

Net time is almost at an end, so we'll write again soon.

Well, I'm a Married Woman Now...

...and so far, married life is great!

BabyCakes and myself are really really really looking forward to our honeymoon. We fly out today!

We had a lovely wedding and lots of fun since. We've had so much family around us we sometimes feel like we have somewhat neglected them, but I guess we're allowed to as newlyweds. Thank you to all our family and friends who shared our day and made it the joy that it was. (Official pictures won't be back till towards the end of June)

I will try to find internet and time to blog, and download pictures as we can, but otherwise, we'll see you when we get back in a few weeks!

P.S. We have a house sitter to look after the animals and he has emergency contact numbers for us... we won't be taking mobiles with us - it is our honeymoon after all!

Returning From the Hunt - Girl Style

Today I had a lovely day. I met up with My step Mum, two bridesmaids, sister in law and niece and spent a good part of the day in the city.

We met up to discuss the plans and needs of the impending wedding day and I thought to start the process of trying to find frocks for the bridesmaids. As it turned out, I showed them a picture I'd pulled from a magazine of a pretty frock. All thought it looked pretty - and well priced. We found the store and discovered the dress, on a sale rack no less! The girls tried them on, they fitted, they looked good, they were bought. All before lunch!!

We had lunch and I reeled off where the plans were at. Questions were asked from all angles. After lunch we moved on to a hunt for accessories. We found necklaces and earrings that worked for everyone. The hunt then stalled somewhat, but was still fun. We looked for gloves but didn't find any - we found a whole heap of hats to try on, which was enjoyed by everyone - little-miss-almost-two joined in with the hats she could reach and posed happily when the mirror was placed at her level - she also loved the shoe stores! She had a very cute mini purse bought for her, and toted that about for the rest of the day, having to stop alternately to put her new bracelet in the bag, and take it out again.

I'm so glad we managed to find dresses with the minimum of fuss!


BabyCakes is yet to return from Big Day Out, so I'm having a very restful night in this evening.

Making Merry

We've had a lovely Christmas.

Christmas eve saw us celebrating at an impromptu dinner with friends, thankfully for us, they too live on the the north side, so the drive home was pretty easy.

I woke up quite late, and we exchanged gifts before we headed out. I got a gardening through the year book, a month by month guide to what one needs to attend to in the garden. I'm such a novice at it all that I need the help! I also got a paper shredder.... there is not much scrap paper in our house that has not been shredded now! Gadgets are cool! I also expect that the shredded paper will be good for composting too. BabyCakes seems pretty happy with his home brew kit from brewcraft. It came complete with a bench top capper and a book explaining all the intricacies of beer making.


We opened up presents with my side of the family on Christmas morning, with a few families having to head off to have lunch with their other halves. We stayed and had lunch with my folks. It's odd to think that lunch for 11 is a small affair.... but it is!

After lunch we headed home for a bit, before going to BabyCakes' parents for dinner. More food was eaten and more good times were had. It was a low key day, and nicely balanced to minimise stress.

Yesterday we went to Bunnings and spent some vouchers we'd been given to buy some fencing materials and plants. We told a few people that we would be home on Boxing day and that they were welcome to drop in. Rastas and the Primrose Goddess were the only ones who took up our offer, and we shared dinner and chatted into the evening. The Primrose Goddess had a chance to look around the garden in daylight during this visit, and she helped identify some of the plants we have, and which ones might be best if removed - most of which I'd already decided were weeds for me.

For The Wah...

Ever Have This Feeling?

How the World can Change in a Short Time

On Friday morning I looked through realestate.com.au as I sometimes do and sent BabyCakes some links for houses in our area (some were just for the giggle factor).

We had been planning to leave things as they are until after we were married, staying put here for another couple of years. It seems though, the nesting drive induces us to look for a house sooner than that. We've even talked to our Credit Union Manager, and he didn't laugh at our aspirations either - which is a great start!

We looked at a lot of open for inspections on Saturday morning. The market is booming, despite all the promised doom and gloom. Real estate agents are having trouble maintaining a "stock" of property, and they have given us very promising guide prices on what we could possibly expect if we sold the flat - to the point that I fully expect to have a couple of agents through to give us a firmer guide on what to expect, and if we could expect a bit more if we did some work.

We can't afford to keep the flat and buy the type/size house in the area we want, so selling the flat would have to happen before we could be in a position to make offers on houses. Houses don't tend to stay on the market much more than a week, if not a weekend before they have offers. Which makes the process feel a lot like a lottery... jump in, sell your home and hope that there will be one you want when you do... I guess we should also be prepared that we might have to have an interim home for a while, or with any luck, get a longer settlement on the flat, and a shorter settlement on a house, in that window where the Credit Union has an idea everything is all spoken for.

All up, it is a scary process, but so very exciting too.

The simple fact that it is possible to afford a house makes it much more alluring to look for one. The fact that it seems like a very impulsive market makes it scary.

It is feeling like gathering all the information we can now will make us more powerful as we start this process.


EeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkKKKKKKkkkkKkK!


Wish us luck!

What a HUGE Weekend

I found my new favourite bottle shop, went to a wedding expo with my Step Mum and Sister, ironed out details in my planned wedding dress, bought a new frock for a cocktail party on Thursday night and had my first ever golf driving range experience....

I almost get tired just typing it all out!

Golfing was kinda fun, and BabyCakes got *really* excited about doing it, which was great. It was good to go out and do something active (not quite "a work out", but better than sitting at home watching movies or playing video games). BabyCakes promises that I did "quite well for (my) first time"... I've been scared of golf since my teenage forays into mini golf... they took me long enough to complete! This is an effort to get past that, and try to learn new things, and most importantly, do active (non-passive) things with BabyCakes. Today was a good, and not too intimidating start - I only duffed a few of them, and even managed to get some fairly decent shots in! We'll probably do another range visit or two, and then maybe attempt a chip and putt course I found near my brother's place.

The cocktail dress hunting was a fantastically successful mission! I found a dress for $50!! Usually when I work out I need clothes for a specific event I can't find them. I found a few dresses to try on (a very few, but that is the joy about being a size 16 - apparently bigger girls don't need to look glamorous - only size 6 - 12s. The dress I came home with was not only one of the cheapest (yay), but the only one as BabyCakes pointed out, that did not require me pulling at it as I walked out of the change room.... I was surprised that the style was as forgiving as it is as it is a stretch fabric, and a dress that on the rack looks like a dress for those pesky size 10s! Now I just need some good "foundation" undies (I'm getting old) and I should be all set! BabyCakes was amazingly patient and a very diligent shopping offsider... he event went looking for dresses for me, and did not once complain when I suddenly stopped when I saw a dress in a window. He offered opinion when asked for it, and waited outside several dressing rooms without complaint. He even paid for the dress once it was picked!! - Back off ladies, he's mine!

The cocktail party should be fun... BabyCakes' cousin is in the Navy and his ship is in town this week. BabyCakes' cousin has invited us, along with more cousins, to come along to the party. - There have been threats for the boys to dress up as a construction worker, policeman, Native American, biker, and cowboy, so the invitee will fit right in, as he will be in his dress uniform! I think realistically, that it won't happen.

The wedding expo was great fun - M & L had never been to one before, so they were all right eyed and excited. I have now been to three, so was a touch more jaded and aware of how "samey" they can get. The three of us sent out our good vibes for me to win the major prize of $8.5k worth of professional services.... but I didn't win, which is fine, as it would have meant a few changes to the existing plans!! What the day did do, was give me a chance to talk over my ideas for my wedding frock, and as M is a very accomplished dressmaker, she's useful person to talk to such things about! We stopped in at Gardams and looked at both patterns and fabrics. Which gave me the strength to think that what I want is not as freakish as I was starting to wonder! They even gave me the cards of a couple of dressmakers to talk to. Hopefully I will find one that I can work with, as the last one I was hoping to talk to has left the country!!

It was a productive weekend. It was fun!

LOLcats - a fave of mine for a while...

I wonder how long till we see it on "Today" or "Sunrise" as a fluff piece now that the Australian mainstream media has found it? I love their very dry way of trying to explain how you at home can also make some lolcats! It should be pretty obvious how to do it once you've looked at a few of the pictures...

I'm so geeky, I went to the cheez to tell them!


My fave (set as my desktop, and has been for some time now) is :

Happycat has run out of happy :(

Life

Life is hectic, but then again I don't know many people that this is not true for.

We had a nice weekend (which flew by altogether too quickly), with a lot of impromptu catching up with friends and family we hadn't seen for what feels an age. We still have more people we need to catch up with, but we are slowly getting round to see people. - Pity the laundry pile is getting bigger!

The current cold weather is also conspiring to keep the bedroom in a state of mustiness, keeping the room closed up in an effort to keep the cold out, and the fact that it now takes a day and a half to get the laundry dry on the line - that's a long term commitment over the course of a weekend!

I feel the need to almost start the spring cleaning-esque stock take (and the subsequent clean out that tends to go with it) as I look around our den/office/computer room and the accumulated "stuff" that is starting to pile, most notably on my desk.

My boss hasn't contacted me to tell me if I work today, after a call yesterday, and one this morning, both unanswered...

I guess if I don't hear by midday I've got the day off....