MIA

I feel like my poor little blog has been neglected lately. Here are some tidbits to help me catch up.

• Work - I started my new job this week, and began the adventure of working both jobs. Should be interesting to find out what Blake makes himself for dinner. Hopefully I don't get home too late. So far it's going well. A little hectic with the start of the school year scheduling stuff, but I'm staying positive.
  
  
• Weekends - We have three more weekends planned out and then we have no weekend plans after that until October. We'll see how fast the next few months fill up, but hopefully we'll get a break and stay home for awhile. We have been gone for the last ten weekends in a row, maybe more but I didn't look back that far. It's one of those things that I try to appreciate while it lasts, because I know that someday we'll stay home more than we go somewhere. It's nice to be able to pick up and leave easily.. but it's nice to stay home now and then too.

Speaking of weekends, check out this fire that we
drove by on our way home last weekend.

There was a huge lightning storm and it must have
hit one of the windmills, it was all around them.
Lit the sky up for miles.

• Sewing - We are going to a pirate themed 60th birthday party this weekend. We always go camping at Lake Roosevelt, WA over Labor Day weekend with Blake's friends from college. Blake has been doing this for a long time, and I have only been a couple of times. The people that own the property are gracious hosts and it is his 60th bday. Should be interesting. At any rate, I've been working on sewing pirate costumes for Blake and myself. I have just a few details left to finish: hems and some adjusting for size. It's been fun and would not have been possible without the help of my mom this weekend. Maybe pictures later.

I've been staring at some variation of this
every night since last Friday.

• Book club - This month I chose the book for our book club and just finished. Down to the wire! The book was The True Story of Hansel and Gretel.  It was hard to read at night because it's a fairly dark book about WWII.. I'll have to admit that I regretted picking it for awhile, but it did end as well as can be expected. I finished it last night at about 3:30 AM. Yikes. I'm glad I read it, but wish that it had been less graphic and vivid. The story was about two children trying to survive in war torn Poland. A perspective of WWII that you don't usually read about. It was very interesting, but disturbing.
  
  
• Blogging - obviously I'm behind on my blog but I'm also behind on reading the ones I love. Maybe this weekend if I have cell service at the lake. I have had many a thought that could have been a post, but no time to write more than this. Once I get into my new routine, and past the holiday weekend, hopefully I'll be overwhelming you with words again soon.
  
  
• Sunsets - One benefit of driving home from Pendleton at night is getting to drive home into the sunset. They have been gorgeous all week. 

This Little Blog of Mine

I'm gonna let it shine...

This little blog received a Little Blog award! Not just once, but twice! The Little Blog award is something that fellow bloggers award their 3-5 favorite blogs that have under 200 followers. It is intended encourage the author and to bring some awareness to the blogs you love.

I'm am honored to have been chosen for this award by two bloggers that I respect greatly. If this award is audited, I'm confident that I'll be fine because according to my dashboard, I have one (1) follower. :)

Here are the rules:

1. Thank the giver(s) and link back to them.
I probably should give these gals their own posts to thank them, but that seems redundant and I'm sure that they are good at sharing - they're moms.

Lisa: Life, Love, and Laughter - I met Lisa for the first time when she signed up to take over a NSSLHA (National Student Speech Language Hearing Association) office at WWU, treasurer maybe. My memory isn't great, so I could be making it up, but she was a year after me in our undergrad program at Western anyway! We also went to grad school together. She is (obviously) a fellow speech-pathologist and I love it when she writes about her (more) exciting job (than mine) with adults. Lisa also keeps me rolling on the floor with her honest humor and stories of her life, which often have to do with being a mom and things that involve her cute little guy. I know that when the time comes for me to have a baby, Lisa's blog archives is what I'll be reading when I am up late nursing. She is the kind of blogger that puts herself out there so that someone else doesn't have to feel alone. I really respect and appreciate this kind of wisdom and humor. Oh the humor!

Julie: Spontaneous Joy - I met Julie in grad school and she is also a fellow speech-pathologist. I regret not knowing Julie better in grad school because I think that we would have gotten along well. As it was, we must have studied in different circles because my first distinct memory of Julie is when I heard someone say that she was going to Sierra Leone on a mission trip. It was probably the last day of classes or very near the end of our grad school time on campus. I think I went over to her and said something to her about her trip (or at least I wanted to). Julie lives in Montana and I came across her blog from a Facebook post. I was instantly captivated by her writing and jealous of her brevity. She has a way with words as she talks about her life, faith and joys. I really respect her ability to seamlessly bring glory to the One who made her in all that she does and goes through.


2. Reveal your 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
Okay. So... I don't have five blogs to pick from! I only read five personal blogs and two of those come from the fantastic women mentioned above! I'm going to break this rule and only pass on one award, because I think she deserves one. Also, it would kind of take the honor out of the award if you won it by default.

Macey: Perseverance - Macey is my cousin and the closest thing I have to a sister. We grew up only a few miles away from each other and after we moved apart in our pre-teen years I went to live with her and her family for a few months one summer. She is the one that got me to start a blog back in 2008 and is my one and only public follower. She used to blog about everything, but lately she has a new, cool job that keeps her from it. She is inspired by everything and inspires others with what she shares. She is an amazing photographer and designer and has more creativity in her little finger than I do in my house (no offense to Blake). I love her dearly and hope that she keeps on blogging :).

3. Copy and paste award to your blog.
Check!

4. Have faith that your follower(s) will pass the love to other bloggers.
I bet that Macey has already received one of these when if first started.

5. And most of all have Bloggity-blog fun.
Bloggity-blog fun for me is blogging while making dinner and watching TV in the background. So, Check!

Bloopers Reel

So I must have been an aggressive deleter, because I'm so positive that there were more of these embarrassing photos. Actually, aggressive deleting is progress for me, usually I keep photos forever, good or bad.

For all the trouble of my blog being taken over by our trip to Australia, I thought I'd provide some entertainment for you. Also, I'm procrastinating from my photo book, because even though I want to get it done ASAP... it is a really slow process and blogging is easier and faster, and still crossing something off my to do list. I should be sleeping... but darn the jet lag, I'm just not tired.

I have to share this as a blooper
because.. come on, what is that thing?
A bunny, a jackalope, big foot?
It really is our first Kangaroo sighting.

and I'm looking at...?

Oops, zoomed in. Cute little Red Panda though.

This whole sequence cracks me up... Sometimes, it's hard being a girl and having hair.

I was going to take a picture of my blown out hair,
but something happened and we got this face...

Apparently it was scary..

Usually it's Blake that blinks

and trying it again.. nope.

Love it. We're so enthused.

Seriously, wind was my enemy.

not so cute, nearly blown away.

Not quite ready with the timer.

Since I'm just sharing silly things at two in the morning... there would have been millions more blooper shots if it hadn't been for the following handy device. It worked really well and was easy to carry around.

Amazon has everything!

Mine is actually about two inches longer than this,
I decided to get the bigger version.

Day Ten: Sunday

Day Ten: The Long Day

We got up early on Sunday morning, packed up the last few things in the hotel room and headed out to the airport. We had gotten some insider tips from our Aussie family and there were a few more items I had to try before we left the country.

This happened at the airport, since we had plenty of time to browse. Our flight was almost an hour late leaving Sydney. We had some Gloria Jean's Coffee, which is like their Starbucks (according to Voula, who is a teacher and ought to know). I also picked up some Tim Tams, which are apparently close to the heart of many Australians (according to Theo). Tim Tams are a type of chocolate biscuit, otherwise known as a cookie. Last but not least, I had to try an Aussie Lamington, which is a type of cake that Aussies love very much (according to little Nicola - "it's her favourite!"). They also informed us that Vegemite is not to be eaten by itself, it is best when mixed with butter (what isn't better with butter) in a ratio of more butter to less Vegemite, and even better when cheese is added. I'm not sure if we'll try this... it's pretty bad by itself, so I don't know how much butter it would take to make it tolerable or palatable. Maybe. The Lamington and Tim Tams, however, delicious!

Our flight was as any 15 hour flight can be expected - long, cramped and sleepless. I wish we'd slept, but we just weren't tired enough and couldn't force it. We watched at least five or more movies, together with a headphone splitter and me half looking at Blake's monitor because mine would die every time I tried to watch a movie. It didn't really matter though because I was knitting like crazy trying to finish my first sock. Seriously, it was like ten straight hours of knitting - awesome! I can't believe I still didn't finish it though. I might have, but I needed to see how long to make it, but Blake didn't want to take his shoes off (for stinky feet reasons, although he'd probably hate that I said that). So I still need to measure how long to make it and I hope that the project doesn't get stuck at the end of my knitting queue like SO many other projects. I will finish it! I'll post a picture if when I do. Then when we go on our next vacation I can make the other sock ;) (Oh, how I wish that weren't so likely).

So a tidbit about the Lamington - A coworker asked me to find something delicious and Australian to make for the office (I made chocolate tarts after Italy and Baklava after Greece). It was a challenge I gladly accepted, but was afraid I wouldn't be able to complete until I discovered the Lamington. I mean, I can't exactly make Tim Tams, and most of the other food items they're 'known for' are not delicious or sweet. So when I make my Lamington attempt, I'll let you know how it goes.

Yeah! We made our train!

Sad, we're leaving :(

Our last view of the bridge and opera house
from the Circular Quay stop.

Chocolatey deliciousness

Bring on the Lamington! I was so glad that I
could find it at the airport (we checked five
cafes before finding this one).

The Aussie Lamington

Sponge cake, dipped in chocolate icing,
dusted with coconut.

My breakfast of Aussie champions.

When we arrived in Vancouver, BC, for our connecting flight to Portland, Oregon, we had missed our connection due to the plane leaving Sydney late. We were rescheduled on a flight five hours later and given meal vouchers from the airline. Even better, the agent that was helping to reschedule us, felt so bad that we had just gotten off of a 15 hour flight and had to wait five more hours, that he gave us guest passes to the Maple Leaf Lounge (it's a VIP lounge), out of what I'm pretty sure was his personal stash. It was so nice of him and definitely the best layover we'd ever had. They gave you free food and drinks and had the most comfortable chairs.. although what isn't more comfortable than an airplane seat after 15 hours. Without that lounge I'd have gotten no sleep at all that 36 hour day.

All said and done, we were awake and calling it 'Sunday' for over 36 hours. It was a ridiculously long day and such a weird phenomena. It was worth it though. What a trip! I feel like I got to know this little part of Australia pretty well, and best of all we had a great time together.

OH, I almost forgot. I found out that kangaroos travel in... Mobs!

Sorry for all the random details for the digital journal. I promise I'll start blogging about something else soon!

Day Nine: Saturday

Day Nine: All Around Sydney and the Opera.

Today we did some Sydney sightseeing. We were so happy to be able to walk around instead of drive and super thankful for the improved weather. It was absolutely gorgeous, just a little windy, okay, really windy.

First, we got coffee (of course) and waked our way down to the harbor to start at the hub: the Circular Quay [ki]. From there you can get anywhere. We took some pictures of the Opera House, and took in the hubbub. We listened to a man performing with a didgeridoo, which was pretty cool.

From there we went to The Rocks and perused through their Weekend Market. We decided to buy a boomerang as our souvenir and are still debating about whether we'll actually try to use it. There were many cool things there, different than the usual market kinds of things, more Australian-ish things and not as kitsch as I had expected.

After shopping we were ready for the walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It provided as many breathtaking views as was promised and also about took our unattached items with the wind. It was spectacular and a really easy fenced-in walk along the sidewalk. Another option was to do the BridgeClimb, which takes you up and over the bridge via the arch. Blake and I both agree that this would be cool to do, but it required booking ahead and was a bit expensive.

After our exhilarating walk over the bridge and back we did a few self guided walking tours to see some of the historical buildings and places around town and squeezed in a little shopping. We didn't buy anything though, because their prices -even on sale- were way higher than ours. They have great shopping there, everything you could get in the US and more.

After we'd seen everything we wanted to see, we walked back to the hotel and got ready for the opera. It was fun to get a little dressed up and have a night in the city, which we don't get to do often in Kennewick ;).

We saw La bohème, which was on our list of Italian operas that we want to see. It was a great opera, easy to follow and a simple but not too predictable story line. It was also fun to listen to it after having been to Italy and learning a little Italian. It was fun to be able to follow along and recognize what they were saying a little better, not that I could have gone without the English subtitles ;), I definitely still needed them!

It was a really fun day and evening and we're not sure what we would have done differently, even if we had more time. Probably the only thing would be to tour the Zoo in Sydney (Taronga Zoo- which is on it's own island in the harbor- cool). It definitely has koalas, which we didn't get to see. Oh, and there's the BridgeClimb.

A little better than our french press coffee.
We'd finally gotten used to ordering too.
Long Black for Blake, Flat White for me.

The man playing the didgeridoo.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge, from the Circular Quay.

Because of this picture, I spilled coffee on my shirt.

Sydney's pride and joy

The Market at The Rocks

The boomerang booth.

It was pretty large market.
The sculpture description: "The sandstone relief is a 
memorial to the convicts, soldiers and settlers who made
up the original settlement at The Rocks."

On the other side of the bridge - North Sydney.

On our way back across.

Our hotel

St Mary's Cathedral from Hyde Park.

Hyde Park was great. Look at all that was going on.
Wedding pictures being taken, musicians playing,
And this bubble guy. He was brilliant, he made all
kinds of bubble shapes and sizes and the kids loved it.

Hyde Park

Ready for the Opera

The bridge at night.

Dinner before the opera

A perfect ending to a great trip!