Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Sunday 28 July - Aussie activities












Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11am, Reading on my bed (I had already got up and had breakfast, but then got lazy). Andy and I then went on a little scouting mission on our bikes around a few garage sales to find some more house stuff, and got a hat stand and some outdoor furniture. The arvo was spent cleaning said furniture, then getting ready for a social little BBQ gathering that David and Val were having. Sunny gin and tonics, sausages and steak, and good company, a fab way to spend Sunday evening! Especially when it's accompanied by a hilarious Skype chat with Mum and Dad, and a gorgeous sunset. 

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Saturday 27 July – Starting well!


Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11am, Arriving back at home after a run along the beach to Umina. On the way back I was pretty hot (it's super sunny this weekend) so I had a quick swim in the sea to cool off, then as I came back up the street, I found $20! So a great start to the day.

I was in such a great mood, thinking about all the wonderful things that have happened this week so far (other than the royal baby of course): We got a house, had some great news from home and my lovely friend Lily (above), one of my best friends who I have known since the age of 11, got engaged this week! I'm so so happy for her and her beautiful fiance Ads; they have been together for about 10 years, and make each other so very happy, so I couldn't be more pleased for them! All so very exciting and lovely and makes me miss home but in a good way.

(Pic of the two of them on the night they got engaged, nabbed from Lily's Facebook)

Friday 26 July – The loveliest day off


Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11am, Reading on the verandah after a lovely lie-in! Not having to go to work today was a lovely surprise, and having only been told of it yesterday, it meant we had no plans at all. So I slept, read and ate, and then we started looking for some furniture for our beautiful new home (moving in two weeks, can't wait!).

In the afternoon, Andy and I went for an explore around a cove called Pearl Beach. It was beautiful, sunny – and absolutely empty! There was no-one on the whole beach other than us two, I couldn't believe it! It was so lovely to have a bit of time off, without feeling the need to do anything and make the most of our time. We had a walk around the rocks and found a beautiful tidal pool, then moseyed home, grabbed our bikes, and went for a drink in Ettalong. We came back in time for a lovely dinner with Andy's parents, and a relaxed evening with free-flowing wine! What an absolutely perfect day to have off!

Thursday 25 July – Home again, home again


Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11pm, Watching TV... So late, on a school night?! Ordiarily no, but as I don't have to get up tomorrow, there was no need to have an early night.
Just before we left work tonight, our lovely editor called us all together and gave each of us a glass of champagne. She thanked everyone for working so hard on the royal baby issue, said some lovely things about the magazine and told us some great news about the figures, and then gave everyone a day off tomorrow as a thank you! Such a lovely gesture, and makes all the hard work worth it. I love my job!

(Picture taken by Amanda on Weheartit)

Wednesday 24 July – More of the same


Current location: Eveleigh
11.11am, Work work work, baby baby baby! All systems go at work today, especially as we have now seen the beautiful little baby prince, so spent quite a lot of time cooing over pictures of him (and talking about how awesome Kate looks!).

(Pic from Us Weekly)

Tuesday 23 July – What a day!


Current location: Paddington
11.11pm, Reading trashy mags with Breeza. I'm staying at the Paddo house because, thanks to Royal Baby madness, we finished work pretty late tonight and have to go in early tomorrow morning, so there wasn't much point in a long schlep back up the coast. We did get free pizza at work though!
As well as all the excitement of the baby, Andy and I also got offered a house we'd applied for! So in a few weeks, we are going to be living in a beautiful home in lovely Erskineville. What a wonderful day!

Monday 22 July – Gearing up


Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11am, Sleeping! Kate Middleton has gone into labour, which means that by tomorrow morning, she will probably have had a baby. Which, in turn, means a few very busy days ahead at work!

(Pic from Janzi_Frost on Weheartit)

Sunday 21 July – No longer across the seas


Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11am, On the phone to Lauren. I LOVE that we are in the same country and I love love LOVE that I am going to see her in just over a week. It doesn't seem like almost two years since we last saw each other, and we were getting really excited with making plans for what to do when we're over visiting. In some amazing twist of good luck fate, she had her last day at work on Friday, and starts her new job the day after we leave WA so we will actually get to spend loads of time together! Woop! So proud of how she has managed a few curve balls life has thrown at her recently, and can't wait to get together and celebrate the good things that are happening too!

(Pic taken from her Facebook)

Saturday 20 July – The hunt continues


Current location: Erskineville
11.11am, House-hunting. After seeing nine houses last week, we brought the total up to 14 today. I can't wait until we find somewhere so we can get our weekends back! Saw a couple of real beauties today, and applied for one, but the whole process is just so intimidating and full on!
At least it was a beautiful sunny day so we enjoyed all the cycling around between places. We also met Kara and Phil (and friend John) for breakfast – in fact, that was where we were at exactly 11.11am, eating brunch and drinking orange juice in Satellite, Newtown. An ace little brunch spot and, hopefully, one we'll be visiting a lot more when we, hopefully, find somewhere to live!

(Picture taken from Satellite)

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Friday 19 July – Families reunited


Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11pm, Hanging out at home. As well as Andy's parents getting back this week, Andy's cousins Michael and Joyce arrived this morning for a week, so we've been having some lovely family time. We had a gourmet dinner of mussels, curry, pavlova and lots of wine, then chatted, watched sport and caught up!

(Picture of mussles taken by Saimy Rodriguez)

Thursday 18 July – They're back!


Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11pm, Excusing myself from the fun, to go to bed. Andy's parents David and Val are back from their mega trip around Europe, and it's so lovely to see them again! We had a yummy pork roast, the sat around chatting for ages, until my eyes were closing and I had to go to bed. Welcome back D&V!

(Picture taken from London a couple of months ago)

Wednesday 17 July – Lady night


Current location: Surry Hills
11.11pm, Pumping up the airbed at the Paddo house. Sha, Bree, a new friend called Sarah and I met for some lady drinks in Surry Hills, and had a few cocktails at Black Penny (I was a bit addicted to a ginger cocktail, which I think was fittingly called Greed), then headed up the road for really good Japanese food. Fun times, with a great group of girls – it felt very SATC!

(Ps, pic of girls from a few weeks ago. Switch out Susann and add Sarah for accuracy purposes!)

Tuesday 16 July – Cleanville


Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11pm, Going to sleep in our new room. Andy's parents (who we have been house-sitting for since we got to Australia) get back tomorrow, so we switched rooms and had a big clean and sort out.

(Image taken from Sahar on weheartit)

Monday 15 July – More balls in the net!


Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11pm, Stretching out! Our netball match had finished quite late so by the time we had come home, had a shower, eaten dinner and finally down, it was quite late. We won again, though! It was the semi-finals this week, and we won 27-18, which means we're through to the finals next week (albeit playing for bronze, but still, I'm excited!). I played GS, which is something I have never played before – and with good reason: I scored 3 of the 27 goals! Really fun though, it's so good to be playing again (although it does make me miss the mighty Blackheath Wanderers).

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Sunday 14 July – Best day so far?










Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11am, Reading in bed. We both had a super long lie-in, with the sun coming through the windows, while we decided what to do today. Andy's parents get back this week so we knew we had to do a bit of cleaning and sorting, but as it was such beautiful weather, we wanted to make the most of the sunshine too. When we finally got up, I made us some awesome pancakes with caramelised banana and  blueberries, and we sat on the verandah and ate and drank and read some more. After a bit of tidying up and organising, we decided to go to the beach and catch the last hour of sunshine. The sea was perfect (read: waves were tiny!) for me to have a bit of a surf and then we came home, opened the lovely bottle of red wine I won at the quiz, and made a yummo dinner. A really chilled but amazing day, one that could well be my favourite day so far. 

Saturday 13 July – Family and food!







Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11pm, Watching an awesome programme about magazines. It was an ace night... Once we came back up from Sydney, I made dinner (Steak, ale and stilton pies – I'm a much better cook in Australia than I was in England!) and we just hung out, chatted, took the dog for a good walk, and then Skyped my sister Pippa and her family. It was the first time we've managed it since I left Cornwall in May, and it was SO GOOD to see their little faces. The kids are so funny, and baby Bea has grown so much. I love them!!!

Then I got to speak to my sister Kate too and hear all the news about my other niece Ella and nephew Jakey... I miss them all so much and it's so good my sisters keep my up to date on everything (such as Jake's current favourite 'toy' is the washing machine and favourite 'snack' is crayons).

I also spoke to my sister Claire last night as I was coming home from a night out, and it was the middle of the day for her, and I hadn't spoken to her for a couple of weeks as she's been in France, so that was fab too. What a lot of sisterly love! I'm very lucky to have three sisters, and be so close to them and get on so well with them. They really are my favourite people and I have so much love and respect for them all, they all do amazing things with their jobs/children/lives and I am constantly inspired by them.

Saturday 13 July – Cribs







Current location: Erskineville, Sydney
11.11am, Inside a stranger's house. We have ramped up the house-hunting and this morning went to see a few houses/apartments. It was only meant to be two but we ended up seeing six different ones. Some great, some hilariously awful, some OK. None that was 'the house'. We did stumble upon an AMAZING little street though, which we fell in love with. All the neighbours were out having a street-long garage sale, and they all said they have drinks out on their pavement every weekend. Plus the houses on the street were super cute, so we've now decided we want to live there! Few more places to look at next week, so we'll see where we end up. On the way back up the coast, we stopped off at Hawkesbury River, just as the sun was going down. Australia is just jam-packed with all these beautiful little surprises!

Friday 12 July – When worlds collide



Current location: Surry Hills, Sydney
11.11pm, Dancing! We were out at our friend Pat's birthday, and the whole Paddo house was out and having fun. To make it even more exciting, some friends from work came out too, so we all had a boogie together! Love it when you have a friend combo colliding from different parts of your life.

Thursday 11 July – Press day, must eat


Current location: Eveleigh, Sydney
11.11am, Having a hungry day! This tends to happen on a Thursday, which is press day, but luckily that means we have yummy lunches and lots of afternoon snacks – which definitely makes me love Thursdays more!

Wednesday 10 July – Pasta master


Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11pm, Sleeping, again. I am quite often sleeping at this time! When we move into the city, I'm sure I'll be able to stay up later but at the moment I tend to come home from work, get cooked for, hang out with Andy and go to bed around 10pm. I'm quite enjoying the early-to-bed-early-to-rise routine though. And tonight I actually cooked for once... Only pasta, but a really yummy dish from my new recipe book that I won at last week's quiz.

Tuesday 9 July – On the hunt


Current location: Eveleigh, Sydney
11.11am, On the phone to an estate agent. Andy and I are beginning the hunt for a new home again (as his parents, who we are house-sitting for, get back soon). There are heaps of cute places in Sydney, it's just that they are pretty pricey, and go so quickly, so we're trying to get organised. Since I started this blog three years ago, I have lived in seven houses (the next one we move to will be my eighth!). Wowsers.

(Picture from heidi on weheartit)

Monday 8 July – Back in the game



Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11pm, Fast asleep! Did my first bit of proper exercise I've done since we got here tonight, and I was shattered. Andy and I played in a mixed netball match with a team called 'The Randoms'... It was indeed pretty random, but we won (yippee!) and it was sooo nice to actually do some exercise again! I was so unfit, but it was so fun, and it was cool playing with Andy too. He's good (even if he does need a bit of a refresher of the rules occasionally!). 

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Sunday 7 July – Sunny side up



Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11am, Eating breakfast (just like this time yesterday!). The sun is really warm today so we sat out, had our breakfast and read books for hours, before a little trip to the beach. This is the Australia I imagined!

Saturday 6 July – A Sydney Saturday









Current location: Ettalong Beach, Sydney
11.11am, Having breakfast. We had a lovely lazy morning in the sunshine, then went to the beach and took the dog for a walk and had a swim in the sea, before hopping on the train and heading down to Sydney. We had a wander around Newtown and Erskineville (fast becoming my fave areas of Sydney) and then went to view a potential house to move into. Next we headed up to Kara and Phil's for dinner (homemade pizza, yum!) and then out to Kings Cross for friend Amy's birthday. Fab night, until we missed our train by five seconds (literally) and had to wait half an hour for the next one!