Tsk, Tsk

Hello blog. Hello ridiculously snowy northern hemisphere. Here in Australia we do not feel your pain, we only feel heat and refreshing breezes. On our dinner table are crayfish picked straight off the murky ocean floor by a mate of Josh's and succulent, sweet blue crab. Yum! The weekends have been filled with body surfing at the beach - sometimes with painful and scabby-kneed results. Josh finds it funny when the wave idly tosses me onto the shore and all he can see is my legs flailing helplessly in the air. He always waits to make sure my head resurfaces, laughing all the while, no doubt. I make my retreat, stumbling, defeated back to the safety of our dry towels and wonder if maybe I'm getting too old for body surfing and how long it will take to get all the sand out of my swimsuit and bodily orifices. The air is filled with dragonflies drifting aloft on the evening sea breeze as the sun casts it's warm glow across the Indian Ocean in a final farewell to another day then quickly and quietly sinks below the horizon as if to say, "See you tomorrow. Goodnight." Then it's off to start the day over again in another part of the world.

Missouri is in our hearts and minds for more than one reason. We watched True Grit last night and Josh said it made him want to go back to the States because some of the scenes reminded him of my parents backyard. Nostalgia certainly set in for me while watching the movie. Not only were the scenes familiar, but I was reminded of my grandpa George, who, my mother often remarked as I was growing up, loved western movies. I thought he would've liked True Grit. Coincidentally, today I got a letter from Texas. It was from my aunt, not the Texas ranger from the movie. It brought glad tidings and pictures of a soon-to-be new family addition - my cousin's son. Which brings me back to Missouri. A baby was born this week in Boone County. Welcome to the world Carissa Lee! Then, of course, there's the snowfall which has blanketed so much of the United States in recent weeks. Photos of my parents snow-plowed driveway and crisp, white lawn play on repeat as my screensaver at work. I keep hoping the more I watch the screensaver slideshow that the feeling of icy, cold snow will wash over me and save me from the oppressive summer heat. That, combined with the chilly air-conditioning at work, might actually be working.

My gin and tonic is working its magic. Hello weekend. Here I come!

Last weekend recap

This is what I did on the weekend --}


I sat on my balcony enjoying the morning sea breeze and my new bistro table and chair set that we got for Christmas from Josh's sister.

And I did this ... BEFORE

and AFTER. Aren't you loving the retro 70s wall tile and non-matching vanity?

And this... BEFORE

...AFTER - I bet you couldn't tell there was a table runner on this table before.

BEFORE... these are low fat mind you...

...AFTER - nothing a little gym time couldn't fix. This was me tonight after my first night back at Body Balance looking more frazzled than balanced.

Finally, something cute and fun - this was my Christmas wrapping paper.

Dont' you love the koalas hanging from the Christmas ornaments? I felt like such a foreigner when I bought it, but also completely triumphant at the coolness that I found it.

There's so much catching up to do and photos to show that I didn't have either the time or patience to put any more photos up tonight.

Valentine's Day. What's that?

I was looking at one of my favorite web sites tonight, Etsy.com, and noticed a link for Valentine's Day gifts. And I paused, then I clicked and clicked some more to find more links to other Valentine's gift compilations. Then I thought to myself "Valentine's Day... what's that?" Followed by another thought to myself, "did I really just think that?" then I realized I haven't experienced a hyped up commercialized Valentine's Day in a very long time. I mean, it has been almost a year since the last Valentine's Day and I seemed to forget in the meantime that Valentine's Day existed at all. Until tonight. When I saw the link. And I got a little sad because the clerk at the grocery store was hanging up a display of Easter egg chocolates the other day while another clerk exclaimed that they couldn't be hanging Easter stuff out yet because it's not for a couple of months. There wasn't even the slightest mention of Valentine's Day. There were no red, pink and white displays or roses or teddy bears or heart-shaped boxes of chocolates. There was nothing. It was forgotten. Or left uncelebrated because it is a trivial holiday that American cardmakers have over commercialized to capitalize on yet another relatively insignificant holiday.

But still, how could I, an American to the core, forget this most loving holiday of all holidays? Shame on me.

Now, down to business. It's 10 days into the new year and I have finally gotten back to the blog armed with photos and a strategy. I got this great idea from a friend - thanks, Gina! - to keep my blog up to date. I will take a photo of something from each day and post it to my blog with a blurb/anecdote of something that I did or learned or happened to me that day.

A few of life's little moments from the past few months that have stuck with me :

• I met a baby who's middle name was Possum
  
• My desk at work wreaked of patchouli when I got back from vacation and I still catch a whiff of it now and again
  
• The other week when I visited a house for work the owner told me her husband left in September. I thought she meant he left for work and she and her two young sons were moving to join him when she explained her husband had a mid-life crises, bought a sports car, and told her he needed his space. She had these two adorable little boys and the older one, who was four-years-old, insisted they stand in the doorway and wave to me as I drove away. What kind of person walks away from that? Argh!


• Lying in the cool grass under the shade of a Norfolk Island Pine in King's Park with my man on my birthday

Below are a series of photos that begin with some local Christmas light displays. It may have been hot, but some people still get into the spirit of the season... National Lampoon style.

The one at the right made the front page of the newspaper the week before Christmas. The display comprised a leaning Tower of Pisa, Eiffel Tower and Sydney Harbour Bridge over the driveway. Donations were collected to raise funds for a local charity.

The house at the right is by the beach. It's big. These people are just rich.

Tomorrow, see what I got up to on the weekend!