Canadian Down Under

Friday, September 29, 2006

Been Busy...

Not ignoring you - just been busy scratching things off my list of 'things to do before I die'.

Okay - it's not really 'before I die' - it was just meant to be 'things I want to do'.

Will update soon - but tonight's my first night home for ages and I'm exhausted - and I just can't justify blogging when I owe a few good friends some emails. Especially since bed may still take precedence over the emails tonight. Thank goodness for the upcoming long weekend - cause if I don't answer soon, I may not have friends to answer to!

But back to my list...I may have to start a new one soon at the rate I'm going.....

Exhausted I tell you!

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Worth a Thousand Words?

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Sunday, September 24, 2006

Summer's almost here....

Know how I know? Well, I don't really KNOW, but it's what I was thinking as I was soaking up the sun in my bikini, on the beach, feeling the warmth of the sun on skin that hasn't been exposed in months, while listening to the waves......

Get all that?

Today I was supposed to go with my Little Sister to the RSPCA (equivalent to Humane Society to you Canadians out there...) to get me a little kitten. (I've already picked a name - but won't divulge until kitten is officially named. Oh and yes I know this is a slippery slope - there is a fear that I'll become the old lady with a gazillion cats- but I'm a few decades away from that...) but at the last minute she called and asked if we could go to the beach.

I thought it might be too cold - but she ordered me out on my balcony (I was still hermitting...) and she was right - it was about 35 degrees out. Mind you - once at the beach I discovered the water was about 3 degrees... And that's saying something for a good ol' Canadian lass!

It's official - I have finally met someone who can swim in colder water than I! Don't get me wrong - I did go in (I mean, I 'm not going to let her call me a wuss, am I?) But there was no way I was staying in for an hour like she did. Why? It was so cold that when the waves hit my rib cage, the air was forced to leave my lungs. No joke. I don't even want to talk about the brain pain I got from getting my head wet....

An hour . She stayed in an hour.

The girl is part polar bear!!

The sun and sand? Warm and lovely. Summer is almost here.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Flexibly Awesome

Kay - you're getting two stories in one....mostly because I was too tired last night to post....

So story #1: I'm Awesome!!!

So says my physio. My arm is healing so quickly she keeps telling me how awesome I am. So I thought I'd share the good news. I shared the good news at work and I had to quickly exit the floor because the sounds of gagging from my co-workers was overwhelming...

Told my physio that my colleagues thought I was full of myself and she told me that I really am awesome and need to tell them so again.

Hmmmm. Think I'll spare them.... I'm telling you instead!

Story #2 - I'm Flexible!

Actually my trainer says it's more like 'floppy'. Mind you neither sounds as fabulous as awesome, but it's still an improvement over last week's verdict that I was fat. (Okay - he didn't call me fat, but he did weigh me and make me look at the numbers. Same thing really....)

Flexible. That's not a word to describe me often!!


So, the world is telling me I'm flexibly awesome. Just wanted to share the good news.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

I must be dumb...

because I just can't figure something out.

My best friend (who lives in Canada) and I are pretty erratic at staying in regular contact. 'Crap' would actually be an appropriate adjective. Mind you, neither of us are perturbed by this - if we really need each other, we know all we have to do is call - but with time differences and busy lives, we have never tried to adhere to any particular timetable. (Which is good - because both of us are allergic to rules.) And besides - we're secure enough in our friendship (we've known each other since we were babies...) that regular contact isn't necessary. Nice maybe, but not necessary.

Anyway, we may not call or email regularly, but we've found a new way of communicating: burning mixed CDs and mailing them to each other every couple of months or so. See, we both love music (or should I say live for it?) so it's kind of our way of saying we're thinking of each other - without doing any of that mushy crap.

So why am I dumb? Because I'm mixing a CD that requires some music that I don't have and I thought I'd download them seeing as they are just a couple of one hit wonders and I don't want to buy any albums.

I thought it would be easy.

It's not.

Never mind that I'm having trouble locating these one-hit wonders - but I can't seem to figure out how or where to download singles from at all.

Now it's embarrassing to admit this, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Any advice?

Saturday, September 16, 2006

I'm going dark

No, not as in the spy term meaning 'silent'. (Yes, I've been watching a little too much of '24' lately...) I mean dark - as in a darker colour.

Now, I know summer's on its way, but I don't mean tanning. Though I will be working on that soon....

What have I done? Well, I asked myself the same question after the dye had been put in and my head was a globe of sticky goo. I had plenty of time to think about it while I was subjected to a rinse and dry. But I gotta tell you - it looks goooood.

I've always been a light brown - but this dark brunette look? I think it may work for me.

Will test the theory tonight. Some pubs in Paddington with my name on 'em.

Monday, September 11, 2006

UP then down.....

And all since I got home from work!!!!!

So the UP? Well - after physio I was planning my post and I was going to make some reference to my 'good attitude'. See the phsyio is so impressed with my progress and she claims its all down to my amazingly good attitude. Which is great - it's just it makes me laugh because I'm usually being reprimanded on my bad attitude.

So what happened next?

Well, as a result of last week's "organise my life" extravaganza, I had an appointment with a fitness trainer and tonight was the 'getting acquainted' meeting. What I didn't realise was that this meant I had to step on scale, was subjected to a measuring tape and also had to wear a heart monitor.

I managed to not look at the measuring tape numbers, but I couldn't help but look at the scale.

Ughh.

I think the numbers are wrong. I mean, I've been fatter in my life (read bigger clothes size) but I've never seen numbers quite that high. And here I was feeling pretty good before I set out!! Even thought perhaps I had lost a few pounds since Ireland - despite having been a slug on my couch since I broke my elbow.

But no.

THEN to add insult to injury, the heart rate test came back below average. Below average?? How is that possible?????? I know I haven't been doing much over the last two months, but generally I do pilates and swim once a week. And before 'the elbow incident' I was either doing a run or a bike ride every weekend.

If I'm below average than how do these other people in my office fare? You know the ones that smoke, eat bad food and look like they weigh too much? (I swear - no matter what the numbers say - I don't look fat!)


Man oh man! This is one bitch of a rollercoaster!!!

Sleeping

So... I was a little annoyed at my brother the other day (what else is new?) See - I've been home from Ireland for quite a few weeks and hadn't heard from him- which if you're one of my other two brothers is not unusual at all - but for him (or should I say his wife?) - it's unusual to not have heard from him.

So I waited him out for a week.

Then it was almost two and I realised I was about to miss my niece's birthday so I was going to have to bite the bullet and call. (Stubbornness is NOT a family trait.... Yeah right.)

Anyway, I called. I chatted to my sister-in-law (always great to catch up with her), then talked to my niece and wished her a happy birthday. She's so cute - she was in the middle of a pajama party and did stop to say hello - but you could tell she was itching to get back to her friends (whom I could hear squealing and giggling in the background) so she passed me off to her dad lickity split!

He gets on the phone and the first thing he says? "Bout time you called me back you little bitch." (So..... my brother's Canadian, but lived in the Middle East for a number of years, followed by some time in England before moving to Australia - and its totally destroyed his accent. He doesn't really sound like he belongs to any country anymore, but when he said 'you little bitch' he sounded SO British that it was really quite funny.)

I'm like, "Call you back? What are you talking about?"

Apparently he DID call me when I got back to check in (like all good brothers should...) and ask how my trip was, but when I answered the phone, all I said was:

"Sleeping."

He told me to call him back when I was awake and I hung up the phone. Evidently he took that as an affirmative response (???) and was waiting for me to call. However, being ASLEEP, I didn't remember he called until he told me about the conversation.

Too funny.

Now, there's evidence to my claims that I'm not a morning person. Really, it's not just morning, I just don't like to wake up ever.. not even when I answer the phone...

Sunday, September 10, 2006

"I wish

I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair"

It's my new favourite song.

I can't stop singing it.

Not even the death threats can make me stop.....

Hedonistic

That's the only way to describe my recent trip to New Zealand Natural Ice Cream.

Yum!

Let's me describe what I've just spent the better part of the last hour devouring:

Chocolate Fudge Sundae:
- the cup is lined with swirls of chocolate sauce and caramel
- then normally they add whip cream - but I don't like whip cream.....(AND it leaves extra room for other things if you don't have it....)
- then one humungous scoop of chocolate ecstasy ice cream - did you hear me? chocolate ecstasy! and that's no exaggeration..
- caramel cup ice cream (it's has mini chocolate caramel cups in it....)
- chocolate brownie chunk ice cream
- more swirls of chocolate sauce and caramel
- chocolate chips and cookie crumb toppings

YUMMMMM!!!!!

I'm so full, I now need a mid-afternoon nap....

What a great way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Shhhh! It's a secret...

I made arrangements todayto cross off an item on my list of 'Things to do before I die". It'll happen next Monday. Can't tell you more or I might jinx it, but will definitely report after!!

(Not to worry - there is absolutely zero risk element to my plans...)

See? I knew I'd be back on my game fairly quickly!!

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Why I'm not blogging

Well, currently I have the attention span of a gnat - so that's not helping - but there's a bigger reason. See the thing is I'm a little down at the moment. Now normally I'd just blog about it-but I'm almost afraid to. Afraid that the wrong people will see, or the right people will see it, or that my friends who do read it will think that I'm worse off than I am. See, my poetic license sometimes gets me in trouble.

So what's bugging me? Well, a bunch of things. See, I think breaking my arm has made me feel old. And breaking my arm and having no one to call really made it worse. (I think that probably falls under the heading of 'tribulations' of being an expat) And lately work hasn't been so good - (to anyone from work reading this, it's not what you think) and there's the whole guy thing. If he ever read this he'd probably wonder what the hell I was going on about - but for me, its really hurt. And it was made worse by a text message today finally confirming that I'm unlikeable (yes, the self-pity has started).

So that's what's going on. Is there anything to be done? No. I think only time will fix this one (or a guarantee that I won't be alone for the rest of my life - something that can't be guaranteed...) So I'm going to ground.

Not to worry - I've have lots of things on: things to do, people to see etc. - I just need to stop the introspection for a while.

Watch - I'll have posted this big long explanation and I'll be fine tomorrow.....

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Weapon of Small Destruction: The Stroller

Okay, today's post is not going to win me any new friends with those with children. These people already think single people are intolerant and lacking compassion to their circumstances - and I gotta say? - this post is not going to improve that perception....

So, it's a beautiful Saturday afternoon. 27 degrees Celcius and only two days into spring. (Are my Canadian friends jealous yet???) Had brunch with a friend at a restaurant overlooking the ocean - even ended up rolling up my jeans and strolling in the surf. Had a mid-afternoon nap then was meandering through the corso doing some errands when I was attacked!

Attacked I say!

Attacked by this man pushing a weapon on wheels. And you know what? He let his little toddler RIDE in the weapon. Now what kind of parent does that?

Sure he said 'sorry'. But then he happily walked on with his wife and toddler while I limped home.

'Stroller'? Not really. They should have named is something a little more threatening like 'Achilles Attacker' so normal non-child bearing citizens are forewarned!