Wine, Red Cups, PYT, and Papasans

 

Tuesday, September 17: A memory you would love to relive.

 

It's hard to pick just one.  Of course, there are obvious moments I'd love to relive a million times like our wedding day, the night David proposed, the trips that we've taken, etc.  But there is one much more ordinary memory that I'd love to relive that I chose to write about today. 

 

My four years in college were the time of my life!  High school? Meh.  It wasn't bad or traumatizing or anything, but I would never choose to actually go back to that time.  College, on the other hand, is a time in my life I would love to relive over and over again.  While all four years were amazing, I would say that my senior year was the best of them all.  I lived in an awesome house off campus with five of my closest friends, we were all just back from studying abroad, we could all (legally) drink... it was just such a carefree time. 

 

There is one memory in particular that I would love to relive from that year.  It was a weekend night, and as usual, we were getting ready to go out.  Which in the small college town we were in meant either a house party or the hole in the wall bar down the street.  My two best friends, Kate and Anne, and I would always get ready together in Kate's room since her room was the biggest and she had the best clothes to choose from :-)  We were drinking wine and feeling pretty fancy that for once it wasn't PBR, Natty Light, or some other crap beer.  My iPod was blasting Michael Jackson's PYT on repeat- it was our getting ready jam.  I don't even know if we ever actually ended up making it out that night, because at some point we ended up plopped on the floor and amazing papasan chairs in Kate's room just talking and laughing.  I don't remember what we even talked about, but it was one of those moments that just felt so perfect.  We didn't have a care or worry in the world.  In our wine-drunk state, we were extra enthusiastic and in love with whatever or whoever it was we were talking about at the moment. 

 

Just BABIES we were! 

Oh to be laying in that papasan chair again with a red plastic cup of wine in my hand, gossiping the night away with two of my best friends.  No jobs, no husbands, no real responsibilities, no time zones between us.  Just perfect!  I'm still very close friends with these two girls, and I love thinking about how far we've come since that day.  But I also sometimes wish we could go back to that time, even if just for a moment. 

 

I guess we DID make it out that night after all...

 

 

The Moment I "Met" My Husband

Tuesday, September 10: Describe a distinct moment when your life took a turn.

 

I think I've briefly mentioned a few times on my blog that I met my husband through my former roommate.  As in, my husband is my former roommate's older brother.  I got a husband and made one of my closest friends my sister-in-law in one shot!  Pretty good deal if you ask me :-)  Although I've made reference to this, I haven't really written much about how exactly that happened... and the start of the whole thing is truly a very distinct moment that changed my life forever.

 

After college, I had moved to Los Angeles for my two year teaching commitment with Teach For America.  During our month-long summer training (teacher boot camp, if you will), we were placed with a roommate by the very sophisticated method of alphabetical order.  My last name began with G, and her last name began with H.  And so we became roommates for that 5 weeks.  Lucky for us, we got along really well, became fast friends, and then decided to live together for the next two years. 

 

I had seen several photos of Renee's brother, and had always thought (and I think even mentioned to her once or twice) that I her brother was pretty cute, but of course thought nothing more of it. 

 

One evening just a few months after we became roommates (I wish I remembered the exact date), Renee was talking to her brother on the phone in our main room.  I was talking to our other roommate, Kayli, and at some point in their conversation, he heard my voice over the phone and told Renee to put her roommate on the phone so he could say hello.  Renee sort of shoved the phone in my direction, saying that her brother wanted to talk to me.  And I shook my head no, and frantically waved my hands indicating that she better get me out of this one. 

 

Nearly three hours later, I hung up the phone with David.  We talked on the phone several times a week and eventually every night after that. 

 

That moment and that first phone conversation absolutely marked a significant turn in my life.  I remember very clearly the panic I felt when Renee pushed the phone into my hands.  Of course, I never could have imagined all that would come from that moment: the start of a 1.5 year long distance relationship, a move to Houston, our engagement and wedding, and even a move to Australia. 

 



Renee, David, and I at our LMU/TFA graduation



 

8K Pride

This past weekend, I ran in Gladstone's own "Botanic to Bridge" 8K race. 

I should emphasize that I am not, by any means, a runner.  Some people enjoy running- saying that they love the "runner's high" and that it clears their minds.  I am not one of those people.  I've never experienced this so-called "runner's-high," and you better believe that my head is not clear when I run.  In fact, it's pretty much just the opposite- I am hyper aware the entire time I am running that I am indeed running, that it hurts, and basically reasoning with myself the entire time not to stop.  However, all that aside, I know what a great workout running is, so I'd been trying to run just once a week over the past few months and ever so gradually increasing my mileage. 

I've known about this race for several months and had the idea in the back of my head that it really would be fun to participate.  There isn't really much in the way of community events like this in Gladstone, so I really thought it would be a good experience.  However, as much as I hate to admit it, I didn't sign up until the last minute or even mention it to anyone, basically because I wanted a way out.  Isn't that terrible? 

At any rate, I signed up exactly one week before the race, and off I went on Sunday morning.  I was pretty nervous, as the furthest I had ever run was 4 miles... once... ever.  And the 8K race is approximately 5 miles.  I had just two goals for the race:
1.) No walking
2.) Finish under one hour

Sunday morning I met up with my friend, Jackie, and her husband.  It was fun to have someone to participate with even though we all ran separately at our own paces. 

How cruel is it to start a race with a giant hill?!

Jackie and I: BEFORE

 

 

Sea of blue

Aside from the giant hill to start off the race, and a couple other pretty steep hills, the race went surprisingly well!  I met my two goals (!), and I was so proud of that!  And of course, I'm really glad I decided to run the race.  It's crazy to think that I ran the farthest I had ever run before! 

Not that I was counting down or anything...

Pounding pavement

8K Finisher!

Jackie and I: AFTER - We did it!

Mah Jams

Day 29, Wednesday: Five songs or pieces of music that speak to you or bring back memories. Use Grooveshark or YouTube to include them in the post

This was a fun post to write.  Except for the fact that I got completely side-tracked going through all my songs on iTunes that I had nearly forgotten about.  It's funny how certain songs really do come to represent a certain time, or phase, or event in your life.  It's amazing how many memories and emotions a song can bring about without any other provocation.  Here, in no particular order, are five songs that bring back memories for me. 

Sweet and Low - Augustana

This was our wedding song. David really wanted a song that wasn't anything too "common" for wedding songs. He chose this one, and I love it. It makes me a little bit sad that it's not something we'll hear all that often just randomly, but I love it nonetheless. Takes me immediately back to our wedding day.

 

 

PYT - Michael Jackson

The second I hear "Where did you come from baby? and Oooh won't you take me there?" at the beginning of this song, I'm immediately in the mood to dance. This song takes me right back to my senior year of college. My girlfriends and I would listen to this song while getting ready to go out and would frequently request that it play at whatever bar or party we ended up at that night. 

 

 

Holiday In Spain - Counting Crows

Although this song isn't necessarily about Spain, it kind of served as my "Spain anthem" while I studied abroad there. Everytime I hear this song, I remember all of the fun adventures I had while living there during my junior year of college. 

 

 

Learning To Fly - Tom Petty

I've always liked this song, but it really became the most meaningful to me during my first year with Teach for America.  After a hard day teaching, I would blast this song on repeat while driving home in the horrendous traffic.  I would usually be crying at the beginning of the song, thinking about whatever had happened that day, but by the end I always felt a million times better.  It is still such a big "pick me up" song for me. 

 

 

The First Single - The Format

This is a song by a band from Phoenix that was pretty popular (at least in Phoenix) toward the very end of high school and into college for me.  This song reminds me of driving around Phoenix during high school or during my summers home from college.  I actually don't listen to them much anymore, but even now whenever I am home (and don't even get me started on how it's been close to a year now...), I still feel the urge to blast this CD and roll the windows down to let in as much of that pleasant 100+ degree air as possible :-)    

 

 

I'm just realizing that I have a song for each of the places I've lived.  Kind of neat how that worked out.  I wonder what song will be "that" song for me that will always remind me of Australia when we leave here...

 

Catch up with my "Blog Every Day in May" challenge here:
Day 1

Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5 (Oops! :-/ I did blog on day 5, just not following the prompt...)
Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14

Day 15

Day 16

Day 17

Day 18

Day 19

Day 20 (I broke my streak- I missed this day...)

Day 21

Day 22

Day 23

Day 24

Day 25

Day 26

Day 27 (So mad that I missed another one... and SO close to the end)

Day 28

 

Lonesome

Day 16, Thursday: Something difficult about your "lot in life" and how you're working to overcome it

Another tough question to answer.  I honestly feel like I am in a pretty good place in life right now, and I know how very fortunate I am.  I can think of a few things that are sometimes difficult about my "lot in life," but when I compare these things to some of the things other people deal with on a daily basis, they seem trivial and hardly worth mentioning.  So I almost feel like I can't/shouldn't even write on this topic without risking it sounding trivial or superficial.  But, for the sake of my goal of completing this "Blog Every Day in May" challenge, I must :-)  So, that being said, here is something that is "difficult about my lot in life" right now- with complete knowledge of how lucky I am that when it comes down to it, this is truly insignificant in the grand scheme of things. 

Feeling Lonely - I don't feel this way all the time, but lately Australia has been feeling a bit more lonely that usual.  I think it partly has to do with the fact that one of my best friends just visited recently (how dare she leave!), and also the fact that one of the girl's I've become good friends with here has just found out that she will be moving back to the US at the end of June.  I realized pretty soon after graduating college, that it is hard to make friends as an adult post-college.  And that's usually been somewhat bearable for me, because I am obsessed with the amazing friends that I already do have.  Even when I lived in the US, most of my closest friends lived in other states, but I loved having an excuse to travel somewhere to visit them.  However, now that dealing with this "lot" is not as easy, the issue seems to be magnified.  I miss my friends.  Not only do I miss my friends, I kind of just miss having friends here period.  I have found it pretty difficult to meet people here.  Don't get me wrong, I've met a ton of people here, and I have plenty of aquaintances, but not many that I've really connected with on a deeper level beyond that.  Most of the time, this hardly bothers me at all, but sometimes this bothers me a lot. 

What am I doing to overcome this?  I love that today's prompt included this follow-up question, because it forces me to remember that with most problems it's important to remember that you can in fact do something to better a situation.  And if I'm completely honest, I have to admit that I'm not being as proactive about this as I could be.  Something I really do try to work at is: making an effort to maintain the amazing friendships that I do have and taking the time to stay in touch through phone calls, emails, text messages, mail, etc.  However, I know that I need to put more effort into doing something to improve the "friend situation" here.  Some of the opportunities I have to do this (organized coffee dates, monthly welcome meetings, etc.) are somewhat limited now that I'm working again and these events are unfortunately always during the day on weekdays.  But I can't let that be an excuse to not do anything at all.  I guess what this post has made me realize is that I'm not doing enough to overcome this supposed "lot."  I need to make a more concerted effort to find some opportunities to meet new people and make connections. 

Mah girls

  Catch up with my "Blog Every Day in May" challenge here:

Day 1

Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5 (Oops! :-/ I did blog on day 5, just not following the prompt...)
Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14

Day 15

Jen and Tim's Aussie Adventure - Part II

In my last recap of Jen and Tim's visit to Australia, I left out our day trip to the Great Barrier Reef since it is deserving of its own post.  So, here goes!

We left early Wednesday morning to drive 1.5 hours to the town of 1770 (yes, that is the name of a city) where we would leave for our day trip to the Great Barrier Reef.  This was my second trip to the GBR (you can read about my first experience here).  It is so amazing to be so close to this reef that is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.  It really is incredible when you realize just how large it is and that it can actually be seen from space. 

Shortly after we arrived, we boarded the boat and set out for Lady Musgrave Island.  We had perfect weather that day and smooth water, which we were thankful for since we had heard the water can sometimes be quite rough and the cause of extreme sea-sickness.  Phew! 

The way our tour worked was that the boat docked on a pontoon in the open water, a short distance from the island itself.  From the pontoon you can snorkel, go on a glass bottom boat ride to the island for an island walk/tour, and/or ride a semi-submersible boat for more viewing of the reef.  It was a great setup! 

Left: view of the pontoon - Right: Lady Musgrave Island in the distance

 

As expected, everything you see in the reef is just beautiful.  I'll let the photos speak for themselves. 

 

 

 

SO excited to see sea tortoises!  You can't tell from this photo, but this one was HUGE- it's shell was probably at least 2 feet in diameter.

 

Me breaking one of the rules and touching one of the sea tortoises

Lady Musgrave Island tour

 

 

The island is referred to as a coral cay (what we call keys).  Basically this means that the entire island is a giant coral mass.  The sand itself is very finely ground coral.  Here you can see some of the old pieces of coral that will eventually be sand. 

 

Tide pool with tons of sea cucumbers

 

 

Jen and Tim!

I put in a good effort to try to convince them to stay, but alas, I was unsuccessful and I had to let them return to the motherland.  Thanks Jen and Tim for coming all this way!  We miss you already! 

Embarrassing Moment {& Why I'm Just Not Cut Out For Cold Weather}

Day 10, Friday: Most embarrassing moment (s). Spill.

While totally humiliating at the time, this story now cracks me up whenever I think back on it.  Feel free to have a good laugh at my expense :-) 

As I've mentioned on this little blog multiple times, I went to college at Gonzaga University in the lovely Spokane, Washington.  The winters there can be pretty cold, icy, and snowy.  One particularly cold and icy morning, I began a cross-campus trek to class with my good friend and roommate.  As we passed through one of the "high-traffic" areas on campus (Desmet Circle for any fellow Zags out there), I was giving said friend a hard time for her shoe choice.  While I had chosen sensible and weather appropriate shoes/snow boots to avoid any mishaps with ice, my much more fashion-aware friend had chosen cute wedges.  In the middle of poking fun at her shoe choice and warning her that she better watch out for black ice- BAM!  My feet flew up from under me and before I knew what happened, I was on my back in the middle of a pretty large crowd of students on their way to class.  I just kind of laid there for a while feeling both shock and embarrassment.  A couple people had to come over and help me up- including my cute-shoed friend.  I tried to hurry away as quickly as possible, but you better believe that hurt (both my backside and my ego). 

My friend and I still laugh about this story.  Now, I just think of this story as more evidence to my argument that I am just not cut out for cold weather. 

*Disclaimer: Please excuse the poor photo quality/old photos.


The beautiful (and treacherous) campus during winter



Had to post a snowy photo of the awesome "Doll House" of a house I got to live in senior year.  Would you believe my rent was $300/month?! Why did I ever move?  Oh yeah... snow...



Happier times in the snow



Catch up with my "Blog Every Day in May" challenge here:

Day 1

Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5 (Oops! :-/ I did blog on day 5, just not following the prompt...)
Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Jen and Tim's Aussie Adventure - Part I

Just a couple of weeks ago, David and I had our first visitors to Australia!  My good friend from college, Jen, and her boyfriend Tim made the transcontinental trek to see us and our new country.  Jen and I lived together for two years in college and were roommates in Spain during our time studying abroad.  So we have lots of experience traveling together, and I was so excited to have her here and travel together again!

After nearly 8 months here, it was so much fun to finally have people from home to show around and share part of this Australia experience with!  Also, I had forgotten how nice it is to be on the same time zone as someone!  It meant so much to us that Jen and Tim wanted to and were able to travel all this way to see us.  We had such a great time together!  Here is a look at some of what we did. 

Jen and Tim arrived in Gladstone on a Monday.  I was a bit of a ruthless tour guide that day as I tried to keep them pretty busy (and avoid sleeping) in order to help adjust to the time difference and reduce jet lag in the next couple days.  Sorry, guys!  They got the grand "tour de Gladstone" where they saw the lovely city itself, "downtown," a failed attempt at finding Radar Hill lookout point, Spinaker Park and the Marina, and Canoe Point where they got their first look of the ocean. 

The next day (Tuesday), we hopped in the car for a little day trip to the Rockhampton area where we visited the Capricorn Caves.  David and I had visited these caves in December, but I really enjoyed going back. 

Shortly after leaving the caves, we had our first kangaroo sighting on the side of the road.  I had been hoping to find some "wild" kangaroos to show them.  It's fun to see kangaroos in zoos, but it's even more exciting to see them just out in nature. 

Kangaroo sighting!!  Left: a troop of kangaroos - Right: A momma kangaroo and her joey

Before heading home, we stopped for a quick visit at the free Rockhampton Zoo.  It definitely wasn't the most impressive zoo, but hey, you can't beat free!  And we got to check some more Australian animals off of our list. 

Left: yes, that kangaroo is scratching his butt - Right: first koala sighting!

The next day (Wednesday), we went on a Great Barrier Reef cruise and snorkeling trip, but I'm going to give that its own post in the next couple days, so check back for that.

On Thursday, we spent a few hours at the beach nearby, Tannum Sands, but unfortunately I forgot to take any photos- oops!   Later that evening Jen, Tim, and I caught a flight to Brisbane for the next few days.  I'm so glad I was able to tag along with them on this next leg of their trip.  The main event of our time in Brisbane was my triumphant return (and their first visit) to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.  Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary is definitely one of my favorite places I've visited in Australia so far, and I was so excited to take Jen and Tim there.  I think I could go here a million times and never tire of it.  I've become a bit of a koala fanatic, and this place is seriously koala heaven. 

Middle: It doesn't get much cuter than koala kisses

A baby koala (joey)

3rd photo: If you look closely, you can see the joey's feet poking out of the pouch!
4th photo: I loved how this kangaroo was cuddled up with his head resting on his paws

Petting a kangaroo will never get old - (Duck photo bomb)

Tasmanian Devil (aka tazzy devil)

Enjoying drinks and the sunset along the Brisbane River in Southbank Parklands

I was sad to part ways with them in Brisbane.  I would have loved to tag along to Melbourne and Brisbane with them too, but I also wanted them to be able to have some Aussie adventures on their own.  Plus, work was calling my name.  It was a great week though, and a very successful hosting of our first visitors! 

250 Words {Story Of My Life}

As a relatively new blogger still, I'm still exploring and learning the ropes of blogging.  I started my blog mostly to keep my family and friends updated with our life and travels abroad while we live in Australia for the next few years- and I've really enjoyed doing that.  However, I know that my life won't always be full of fun adventures and travels (well, most likely not anyway), but I do still hope that I can continue blogging even after our Australian adventure comes to an end.  I've always enjoyed writing, and I'm kind of re-discovering that "hobby" through this blog.  So, with that said, I'm hoping to "flex my writing muscle" a bit more, and not only write about fun adventures and travels, but also just write about ordinary, everyday life and thoughts that come up.  To help with this effort, I'm going to push myself to participate with Jenni at Story of My Life who is challenging bloggers to blog everyday for the month of May using pre-determined daily prompts.  So without further ado, here is today's post!

Day 1, Wednesday: The story of your life in 250 words or less

I was born in Phoenix, Arizona on March 15, 1984. I'm a textbook middle child, and I love having one sister and one brother.

In first grade, I started my first of what would end up being twelve years of wearing school uniforms and sixteen years of Catholic education. I attended an all-girls high school, where I was mostly an introverted, rule-following, homebody teenager. At eighteen I moved away from home to attend Gonzaga University.  Here I had the best college experience I could imagine and made life long memories and friends. I studied abroad in (and fell in love with) Granada, Spain during my Junior year and got my first taste of traveling and living abroad.

Post-college, I taught for two years in South Central Los Angeles with Teach for America. During this time I learned more about myself, my beliefs, my passion for teaching, and what I was capable of, than at any other time in my life- I also earned my Masters in Special Education.  During this time, I also met my then roommate's brother and fell in love. We dated long distance for too long and before I knew it, he swept me from the beautiful California beaches to Houston, Texas.

My babies in Los Angeles (left) - My babies in Houston (right)

2010 was a big year for us- we got engaged, got married, and bought our first home.

My family on our wedding day.

Less than two years later, my husband's job moved us to Australia, and here we are- working (some) and traveling (a lot). Life is good! 

Day one- check!  252 words, but close enough- right?