Archive for June, 2008

the death of me

As in, these rehearsal dinner invitations will be. Sheesh. Mom and I decided we could print the invites at home once we’d decided on the design. No problem. Mom has this amazing printer that also faxes and copies, so we’re set, right. First of all there was a minor mishap when Mom tried to change the ink cartridge and it came lose but moved to its “safe place” where it got stuck and also where I couldn’t reach it. I finagled and prodded many a night when FINALLY I freed the ink cartridge holder and all was right with the world. I promptly started working to get the invitations printing but I think that printer doesn’t like me. Perhaps I was too forceful during the previous extraction, perhaps I didn’t coddle the printer enough or perhaps it’s just being stupid and spiteful (that gets my vote). So, with no explanation or definitive error message from the printer or computer, I decided I’d just use MY printer and computer. After a few test runs and redesigns things were going well, we were ready to print those darn invitations. NOT SO FAST MANDY! Now all the words are off-kilter and I feel like I’m back at square one. The funny part is that I was put in charge of printing invitations for a bridal shower sophomore year of college and oh how it’s all coming back to me now! It’s just so hard when you’re not using “regular” paper that it “regular” sized. I WILL CONQUER THE INVITATIONS and they will be DANG CUTE!
So that’s what I’ve been doing in my free time. I’m tempted to take a break and see if I can figure out how to finish my knitting project but I’m afraid I’ll get frustrating with that too and then what will I do? eek.

I hope all of your Mondays have been frustration-free and lovely!

MMM, who wants some Rice Bubbles? Yum!

LOVE!

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GOOD NEWS

1. I found a knitting store and they helped me so I can finish my project. I should post pictures once it’s done. Prepare to be awed people.
2. AND I found a dress to wear to the rehearsal which was something I was getting worried about. Mom found a dress for the wedding so we’re all set in the dress department.
3. I GOT MY STIMULUS CHECK! YAY!! Now the trick will be to NOT spend it so I can get the new iPhone in July.
4. Hopefully I’ll be heading to the Lake on Monday or Tuesday so I can get a wicked suntan for the wedding. Plus doing nothing is always more appropriate at the Lake so I won’t feel as useless there as I actually am here.
5. I’ve been skipping the dairy so no more tummy aches, woo!

That’s about all I can mark off the list from my previous post but it’s enough.

Yesterday was the second anniversary of Baba’s death. We miss you Baba!!

Have a great weekend everyone!

LOVE!

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list of recent grievances

1. Crazy Kansas City drivers. I left D.C., or SO I THOUGHT!

2. The pursuit of a new knitting store

3. “Service Engine” lights

4. Not being at the Lake

5. Not being in Australia

6. Not having a job

7. Moving from my own apartment to ONE room

8. Dairy + stomach, yeesh

9. Not seeing a certain someone every weekend

10. T-bones games! Seriously? You have to do something between EACH inning? How annoying!

11. Not having the ability to read EVERY BOOK I want to simultaneously

12. Not knowing how to make my real, live (or not so much) own blog

Besides all these minor bumps, life is great! I’m sleeping on Kansas time now, woop! And I’ve had Starbucks TWICE this week.

LOVE!

ps I think I’ll just add a photo from Australia every time I update. How does that sound?

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How to lick jet-lag
(lick as in beat, not involving the tongue)

Go to bed around 6 AM (usual for jet-lag)

Wake up around 9 AM to a certain person calling for you to get up

Find out certain person needs to go to the E.R. (don’t worry though)

Take person to E.R.

Have all efforts to nap thwarted by entering physicians or nurses

After leaving with discharged certain person stay awake as long as possible

Finally succumb and go to bed at a normal hour (11ish)

Wake up before noon (or close) the next day

DING! You’ve DONE it. Congratulations!

here are a couple favorite Aussie photos that don’t include people

LOVE!

ps REALLY, don’t worry! Everyone in this household is happy and healthy. All good.

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bug  

Good news: I think I am closer to beating the jet-lag.  I guess I missed the part where they tell you it takes a WEEK to get over jet-lag from Australia.  So I still have time! 

Bad news: I’ve got the travel-bug.  Believe it or not I start dreaming up my next trip WHILE in Australia, although the 30 hour trip back did dampen that a bit.  For some reason, I have a thing for places starting with the letter A, so at the top of my list are Argentina and South Africa (okay so technically it starts with S).  You know how long it takes to get to South Africa?  DO YOU?  Like 28 hours.  So my plan is to fly to DC and hang out for a few days because I think I may know some people there.  Then I’ll fly to Frankfurt because I have new friends there now.  THEN I will fly down to Johannesburg and I won’t have to be on a plane for 28 hours consecutively, alright.  Of course this will take major funding which I don’t have.  The family is already sorta planning a trip to Germany in 2010 so I’m thinking this is when I’ll make my move.  Since we only travel on even-numbered years and all (except within the states, that doesn’t count).  And I suppose Argentina will just have to wait.  We met SO many kids on the trip who’ve taken a year just to travel.  I had forgotten that C and I met kids doing this while we were in Europe in 2006.  I want to do that!  How much money do you think that would take? 
Places I’d go if I were to travel for 1 year:
Iceland
New Zealand
Canada (I know it’s easy and close but it’s my list!)
Greece
Israel
Czech Republic
Egypt
Peru
Chile
South Africa
Argentina (if I haven’t already been)
Sweden
Holland
Ireland (because I have a friend there now!)
Dubai

That’s all I can think of, for now.  But wouldn’t that be amazing?  Where would you go if you had a year to travel?
LOVE!

ps I may have forgotten to mention this BUT one of the guys on our tour lives in Hawaii and KNOWS DESMOND FROM LOST!  You know what this means?!?!  I have Desmond’s cell phone number AND email address.  I’ll never tell!!

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Happy Birthday ALEXANDER, the greatest brother of ALL!

love!

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perpetual jet-lag

I honestly had NO idea it would be this difficult to fight jet-lag. Having traveled to/from Europe and Central America and had few problems readjusting to the time zone I found myself in led me to believe that I’d be okay the day after getting back from Oz. NOT SO FAST MANDY! When we got to Australia we were, of course, exhausted after over 30 hours of travel and skipping one night’s sleep. We waited until, oh, 7:45 PM to collapse into big balls of tired jet-laggedness, slept through the night and were okay. Coming home HOWEVER, not so simple. To be fair, I didn’t exactly do my best to get at least a few hours of sleep on that darn 14-hour plane ride, oops. I got home and went to sleep about 10ish and slept until 6AM, then went BACK to bed at 9AM and slept until 6PM on Tuesday. I think that was my fatal mistake because I am STILL struggling with getting back to normal. The second night I didn’t sleep at all and tried my hardest not to nap the next day (Wednesday) but to no avail. The third night (last night) I went to bed at 4AM and woke up 8ish not feeling so hot then went back to sleep. I woke up at 3:30 PM today. WHEN WILL IT END? Okay so I’m not really that upset because this jet-lag is the only thing still connecting me to my vacation in Australia, but I’m thinking that eventually I will need to have normal operative and non-operative hours. Maybe today is the day. Maybe I will go to bed at 11 and wake up at 8AM and be fine. I hope so because I have a brekkie (Aussie for breakfast) date with a certain birthday boy tomorrow!

Speaking of the birthday boy…
(these are for you Libby!)

a dingo

and (are you seeing this Libby? Will you finally believe I’ve been to Australia now?) A KOALA

LOVE!

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post vacation sappiness

Okay so while we were in Australia and since we’ve been back I’ve had this quote stuck in my head from “Sleepless in Seattle”; “and then after a while, I won’t have to think about how I had it great and perfect for a while.” Granted, the guy was talking about life before his wife died. I don’t pretend to know how that must feel and don’t want to trivialize that (though it is a movie), but being in Australia felt like that, as if we were cheating life, or somehow had won some sort of lottery and no one had found out yet. No need to think about getting a job once we got home or worry over the rising price of gasoline. I suppose that’s what vacations are essentially for, but this one was SO FAR AWAY, making it even easier to forget lots of stuff like responsibility and bills. So I guess you could say I enjoyed my time in Australia. And you would be uttering the biggest understatement ever.
The tour with Contiki was lovely. It was wonderful to be thrown into a group of young adults and dragged around on a bus. In essence, it was a sort of traveling high school, only where everyone is nice to each other because they’d just met. Insta-friends, awesome. However, Contiki is kinda all about partying. It was accurately called “ConDRINKI” by a fellow travel-mate of ours. I was not prepared for such an experience. I kinda feel as though the time for me to go out, drink and dance at a club are behind me. I am, after all, fast approaching the ripe age of 25. But we had fun and you sure get to know people quickly when you see them drunk. The other kids on the trip were great, mostly from Canada, the U.S. and England. Basically we now have free places to stay all over the world! I’m thankful for the tour because I don’t believe Alex and I would have seen or experience half as much had we done it on our own.
Sydney (post-tour) is now at the top of my list of places I want to move to. I really think it was all the parks and gardens, with their bewitching green grass, inviting big trees and stately fountains. Oh and how could I forget the Sydney Opera House. Who wouldn’t want to live within 30 miles of that wondrous piece of architecture? However, lest you think that all of Australia is sunny and warm all year, let me tell you, it is not. I recall my pastor or pastor’s wife once saying that Russia felt more like Russia in the winter. Well I think Australia probably feels more like Australia in its summer. While in the north (Cairns), it was lovely and hot, as we drove south, it got cooler. Our last day in Sydney was pretty rough, drizzle and wind nagging at us. That being said, I’d take a bad day in Sydney over a good day almost anywhere else!
I’m still trying to grasp that we’ve already been there and back, which may have something to do with the fierce jet-lag I’m dealing with, thus the post I began at 5:45 AM this morning! It’s almost 10 PM in Sydney right now, time for bed!

i decided to have a theme for the pictures!
Airlie Beach

Manly Beach

Surfer’s Paradise

Whitehaven Beach (the favorite!)

LOVE!

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a few favorites

before I collapse from jet-lag

hiking on Long Island

Lake McKenzie on Fraser Island

My Irish friend Ciara and I in Brisbane

Bridge/Sydney Opera House combo

Australian Rules Football Game aka Footy
Sydney Swans versus the St. Kilta Saints

LOVE!

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overwhelmed

Okay so I have a little time and thought I’d say hello.  Hello.  We are now in Sydney and I find it lovely and charming.  I want to live here, picnic in Hyde Park on sunny afternoons and arrange a romantic rendezvous in the Royal Botanic Gardens.  Why don’t I remember such lovely parks in America?  It is a bit cold though, Alex said it’s probably 50° F here this morning (it’s now the morning of the 14th here), brrrr! 

Australia was described as an extension of the USA and I tend to agree.  It still feels like a vacation in a new and wonderful place though.  It would just be easy to acclimate to living here if you were an American.

Tonight we are going to an Australian Rules Football game.  I’m really excited though I have absolutely NO idea what A.R.F. is.  Every sport here seems like a cross between soccer, football and rugby.  Guess we’ll see.

I can’t wait to post pictures for all of you!  I’ll be home Monday and if I’m not too jetlagged perhaps I’ll get some up here.

LOVE!

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