...I am very, very Buff....

There is nothing I don't have crossed in hope and will that this item arrives, from America, before I fly out on the 6th to Borneo.

Nothing.

(It's a buff from the Survivor: Pearl Islands series, my personal favorite with Rupert and Johnny Fairplay.. gold. Absolute gold.)

Now..if only Jeff Probst would deliver it by hand. Drool.

Sydney

After making it through the weekend of Cam's family Christmas alive and mostly intact (and having been compensated handsomely for my house-wifely duties with a Louis Vuitton scarf, Chanel purse and a large plant) I have absolutely nothing in the way stopping me from being all out, gosh darn, truly completely and overly excited about the next two weeks. Oh, except the whole being away from Cam for the week of Christmas thing. Still, we have so many things to look forward to before he flies out, and as excruciatingly painful as it was the last time we were apart for so long, I know we'll both be having a great time with our families as well.

The first thing on my Yay! list?

I'm flying to Sydney on Thursday to stay in the gorrrrgeous hotel Cam has for his work trip. He'll be working most of the time, which is why it's so handy my best girl Sarah is coming with me! I've never been to Sydney - the hotel is actually UNDER the Harbour Bridge (see pic!) There will be much exploration, shopping, wining and dining, and general tourist-y activities, as well as a dinner with another of my all time favorite people, Cam's work mate Bolge. I've already started packing - one can't have enough pairs of shoes for a single night trip, right?

Next comes Saturday. Cam and I wanted to do something a bit special for a number of reasons; a delayed anniversary, our last weekend together, an early Christmas treat for Sarah and I as we'll be apart for Christmas, too, and a generally magic night out. I've wanted to go to the Moonlight Cinema for a long time, and Cam found a screening of something I'm apparently going to love (I'm being a good girl and not googling what it is!) and as well as our plans to enjoy dinner on the Restaurant Tram - something else I've always wanted to do - we're going to take a picnic hamper along with our blanket to watch the movie, and maybe have a little champage and some nibblies under the moonlight.

The next day, I have a few plans of my own up my sleeve, and the only chance we'll have to attend any Christmas carols together happens to take place at one of our all time favorite places, The Bridge. We spent many nights there together last Summer, watching the sun set over the ocean and eating ourselves silly, so I'm very excited the carols will be sung out the front! I LOVE Christmas carols (as evidenced by the 5 Christmas CD mixes I currently have in my car, plus three more inside...) and I thought it would be nice to drag Cam along with me.

After that, I plan on heading down to my Mums for the week of Christmas, complete with my tent, dogs, cats and presents. I'm going to camp again this year, as it affords me a little more privacy than in the house, and it feels a bit like a mini-holiday of my own out all alone in the backyard with just the dogs and a torch for company. Cam will fly out Christmas Eve morning, so we'll be having another mini-Christmas on Christmas Eve Eve. After that, it'll be days and days of spending time chilling with my Mum, Nan and brother, walking the dogs along the beach and ripping open all my extremely-funny shaped presents (I've already been squeezing them and reading the cryptic clues...and I've got no idea what I'm getting, except for the giant case for my trip to Borneo!). It's going to be fantastic :)

(and further forward on the Yay! list - after a New Years Eve with my 4 favorite people, cruising along the river watching fireworks and drinking champers, Cam and I have a week together relaxing before we fly off to Kuala Lumpur and the jungle of Borneo! Yay!)

It just occured to me...

... that people might not actually be taking me seriously when they read this. I thought I would take this opportunity to show you just how gosh-darn serious I am with photographic evidence from my trip to Vanuatu (even if I was denied a visit to the Survivor Museum...)

Every time we walked along this footbridge joining the two sections of the resort at nightfall, they lit the pretty fire-torch things.

... and naturally I couldn't help myself from muttering to myself "Once the vote is read, the decision is final; the person voted out will be asked to leave Tribal Council immediately..."

See this nice singlet I am wearing? Can you read what it says down the side? No?

Here, let me help you.

I think you get the picture now, folks.

Jungle Green Theme

As I made my way towards the computer to post a blog about my deep-seated and unnatural love for all things Survivor (the new Samoa series is on! Could my mother and I be more excited? I think not!) I noticed I had a new email from my lover boy, with the intriguing title "What to Wear". Naturally, I clicked on it in an excited manner and realized it wasn't for a snazzy date night later in the week, but in fact, guidelines from his company on what sort of smart casual attire one will be expected to wear when we fly off to Borneo in January. Obviously, I had no intention of pouring my bikini'd body into anything other than the occasional sarong (or an all over coating of Aloe Vera soothing gel...) but then a little something caught my eye on the evening of the 10th...JUNGLE GREEN THEME! *does her happy dance*

Honestly, if I weren't so addicted to shopping and had visions of finding a perfectly delightful floaty dress in shades of green, I'd whip out this oldy but goody and go the whole hog.


I wonder if face paint will be acceptable?

(Note: I very nearly posted that whole photo. Very nearly. Then I realized I was all of 16 years old, and strongly resembled a chubby, pre-pubescent boy with hideous bowl haircut and crazy 4 chins. So, for your viewing pleasure, the edited version).

Edited: It just occurred to me... we're off to Africa next January - THINK of all the potential I'll have for re-creating all manner of Survivor: Africa moments!

Ahh... and Cam thought when we left Vanuatu unscathed by the Survivor: Vanuatu Museum it would all be over... *cackles evilly*

One year on...

...and I never thought I'd be where I am now.

Today marks not only the birthday of my best girl, Sarah, but also a year since the day of strange events that led to me meeting the man of my dreams, Cameron.

A year ago I posted a blog, but didn't know how, when or whether I should say anything regarding the events of the evening before, and I don't think the story of our meet has ever been shared online. It's been bought up many a drunken night, or during the inevitable 'And how did you two meet...?' conversation when meeting new friends/family, which is followed by a lot of "awwwws" from the ladies and guffaws from the men. There's also always a reference to fate or the subconscious...but enough of that, and more on the event itself.

After consuming vast amounts of near-lethal Long Island Iced Tea at TGI Friday's, I made my way into the city with the vague notion of heading to a club a barman had suggested. Several kilometers later in my (aptly named) killer heels, I was rapidly losing interest and quickly gaining severe blisters. Not one to whip my shoes off and barefoot it through the grime and possible STDS broken glass of the city streets, I decided it was time to take myself home. As I waited for the traffic lights to change on the corner (in a non-hookerish way) so I could lurch off in the opposite direction, a certain someone stumbled their way from the McDonalds on said corner and came straight up to me, gesturing for me to accept the French fry he had on offer. I politely decline, sidestepping him and assuming he was mentally unhinged, a serial killer, or worse, one of those leechy drunken guys who think ones assets are their own to fondle and grope. As the little green man popped up and I was safe to cross the street, I made my way back towards the car my friends had driven me in to the city in, and noted I had a follower. A French fry wielding follower. Before long, he was chatting away merrily, and not having the confrontation skills to tell him to eff off, I was soon conversing back with him about the merits of the African soccer clubs and all manner of bizarre topics. As we chatted, I realized how cute he was, and how actually nice he was - even in our inebriated state we were able to giggle and laugh and for being a complete stranger, I felt strangely safe with him. As we walked and walked, we talked and talked, and once we reached the car, it dawned on me I didn't hate him. (Which, if you were an avid reader of my blog around this time last year, you'd know was a strange and foreign state for me to be in). My friends seemed unconcerned by him, and when he asked them for a lift home, he was granted access to the vehicle after a firm warning that if his hands - or any part of his body, for that matter - were to stray from his own lap to anywhere on my person, he would be swiftly and sharply dismembered with a screwdriver. As we neared his house, he said it was off the main road we were traveling along, and to drop him on the corner as his house was only two doors up. We did just that, and as we reached my own home and I was climbing out the car, there was a strange ringing coming from under the drivers seat. A quick check made us realize we all had our own phones, and the ringing one could only be the guy who we gave a lift to. I was far too tired to comprehend driving back and finding his house, so I said I'd take it and drive to his house in the morning, once I'd had a good sleep.

The next day, I was feeling a little worse for wear. A long bath, 2 litres of orange juice and another nanna nap later, I set out in my car to find the owner of the phone. I'd tried going through the numbers in his call records, hoping to find 'Mum' or someone I could ring and ask for directions to drop his phone off, but the battery had died whilst I was doing my sleeping beauty routine. I had a Nokia charger, and had tried that option, but once I realized the phone was pin-locked with no hope of getting into it, I resigned myself to the fact I'd have to go find him.

Only once I was driving in the general direction did I realize I had absolutely no idea where I was going, just a suburb name and a vague idea of 'two houses up' from a corner. Well, I drove and drove, texting my friends to see if they had any recollection of where we had driven, but alas. As I drove along the streets, I tried to recall our conversation from the night before to find any clues to his address, and remembered him saying he owned a 'hairdressers car'. I noticed a Mazda MX5 convertible out on the nature strip of a house, and after counting the number of houses up from the corner, it was more like 7, but I wondered if that could be it. After calling Sarah and asking her if I really did have the guts to walk up to a strangers door and ask if they knew a young guy living in a share house somewhere, I decided I had to find the courage somehow, as I knew how devastated I'd be if I lost my phone. I noticed a young guy in football shorts and a sombrero, and thought to myself that gay guys are always friendly, and might know where a hunky footballer like my stranger the night before would live. As I took several deep breaths, yanked down my skirt and fluffed up my hair, I approached young Mexican footballer boy, and as the words "DoyouknowaguycalledCameron?" stumbled out my mouth, who should walk out the front door but the one and same hottie from the evening before? I didn't know if he would remember me, so I blushed a bit and stammered something about leaving his phone in the car, and soon he'd invited me in for something cold to drink and a look around the house he shared with his mate. Not the typical 24 year olds flatshare at all, which soon became obvious when I found out he wasn't exactly 24 (In fact, it took weeks, as he pointedly refused to tell me and I resorted to rummaging through his wallet to find the date of birth on his drivers license and nearly having heart failure when I realized he was, in fact, older than most 'classic' Mustangs I know...). After a few slightly awkward moments of me not knowing what to say - or wondering if his beer goggles had slipped off since the night before and if he was mentally kicking himself for speaking to me to begin with - I said my goodbyes, and he casually put my number in the new iPhone he'd been out and bought that morning as he never thought he'd see his 'old' phone again - what little faith he had in me!

As I drove off, my mind was full of thoughts, mostly along the lines of "mm! Zexy!" and "damnit, I doubt I'll ever see him again..." when who should call me, but "French Fry Guy"? I answered the phone after taking some more deep breaths, and he was all "Oh, I must have accidentally called you...". Before he could get another word out, I was teasing him about his subconscious way of leaving his phone in my car so I'd have to see him again, 'accidentally' calling me and so on, and said he may as well just ask me out. He didn't commit to anything, so again, I decided I wasn't going to be seeing much of him, unti later that day I had another phone call, to tell me he was on his way in my general direction and did I fancy a walk along the beach or a drink?

I don't think I've ever gotten dressed so quickly in my life - all the while, on the phone to Sarah asking for help and suggestions and direction on what shoes and jewelery I should be wearing. I don't think I'd ever been so excited - but when I met him at the beach, I instantly relaxed. We just kind of clicked - he was easy to talk to, fun to tease, super intelligent and gosh darn handsome. We took a walk along the beach after a drink overlooking the water, and as we chatted and walked I began to realize he wasn't as young as I'd previously thought, but no amount of probing would get him to tell me. I also knew, when I asked him if he had any children, marriages or sexually transmitted diseases (hell, what's the point in pussy footing around? A girl's gotta know these things early) and he denied all of them, he wasn't quite telling the truth, but I hoped when he eventually told me which one he wasn't being honest about that it wasn't in the first or last category. (NB: just to clear it up - it wasn't those categories!)

The next few days and weeks were a flurry of text messages and phone calls, and each and every day I grew to like him more and more, and the more time we spent together over the next few months made me fall in love with him hard and fast. There had been moments when I knew things were so different to any other relationship I'd had, but when we flew back from a week in Vanuatu, I knew for sure that it was special, and that he was the guy I wanted to (and still do!) spend every day with, talking and laughing and just being with, for ever more.

Every day since then I've fallen more and more in love with him; there's always something new I learn or a different side of him I see, something funny he says or a special look that melts my heart. He makes me laugh like no one else, squashes all my fears and makes me feel like the best possible version of myself around him. He's brought so many amazing things into my life, and shown me things I could never have dreamed of, he's shared some of the most incredible times of my life and also some of the crappy times. I can't wait for our adventures to keep coming through the years, and I hope there's plenty more of the good stuff.

He holds my hand when I am happy, but most importantly of all, he holds my hand when I am sad. He's right there beside me when we share our dreams, and he's right there beside me when I need someone to lean on. I can't believe where this year has taken us, from our random meeting to the beautiful house we are making a home in together, our two horses and our many up-coing overseas trips, and I, for one, can't wait to see what the next few years will bring.

Oh, and just FYI? I love you, Cam.

Best of

I read through Pretty Random Thoughts this morning, and saw her post from Best Of 2009 Challenge, which then led me to that site to see what it was all about. Basically, it's a post for each day of December for a 'best of' moment that happened during the year of 2009, and seeing as each day is pre-organized and I do love a bit of help in the 'hmmm....what to blog about today' department, I'm planning on doing this little challenge myself (without, technically, participating in the 'challenge').

As I've missed the first two days, I'd better get cracking!

First of all, my Best Of: Trip 2009 -

Easy, peasy. That has to be Vanuatu! Cam and I flew over in January after knowing each other a little under two months, and had simply the most incredible time. Every day was packed with fun, beautiful locations, amazing new experiences like snorkeling with tropical fish, standing in the flow of waterfalls, feeding read live sea turtles and riding horses through the mountains and in the ocean. More than anything, the 'little' things made the trip so fantastic - holding each other and laughing as the hot rain poured down on us in the pool, eating fresh coconuts as we walked, hand in hand, from the waterfalls in the storm, and, of course, getting sloshed on frozen daquiris in the pool.

Best Of: Restaurant Moment -

This one is not so easy. The most 'memorable' was the day of my birthday; the night before Cam flew to America for 10 days. I say memorable because it's the first to come to mind, but it wasn't a happy night for me. The most incredible view would have to be at Sails, in Noosa (another favorite trip!) where we watched the sun set over the ocean in our own private oasis, or Brighton Sea Baths in September- the location of our first date! - which certainly signaled, for me, how far we'd come in our relationship. But I think the best would have to be the times I got to spend with my two favorite people, Sarah and Cam, and our many silly nights giggling and laughing out way into the evening at TGI Fridays, or Sunday morning breakfasts at our favorite cafe before planning the days activities.

Best Of: Article -

Worrying, nothing comes to mind. Absolutely nothing. There's nothing I've referenced significantly, there's nothing that particularly blew my mind away enough to share around the world. There's several that spring to mind involving unbelievable tales of survival and horrifying tales of destruction during the Black Saturday fires. It was a time that felt like a national depression, everyone knew someone who was affected, injured or killed, and the days and weeks after were a sad and scary time for everyone in Victoria. Even now, as we drive and see the effects of the fire, the bridges that simply disappeared and the sweep of trees with blackened trunks, it doesn't quite seem real, but the feeling of worry for what this year will bring is still at the back of peoples minds.


Tomorrow... Best Of: Book.

Excerpt from my Christmas List

Cameron made the foolish mistake of asking for an in depth installment of my current Christmas List, but only managed to peruse it once he made it home from his meeting. As he sat himself down with his iPhone, I could hear much laughter and derisive snorting, and I calmly asked him what was so amusing. He asked me to read the second item as listed under "Girly Stuff":

- Pleasure State lingerie - Size: (insert hideously large size here) bra (do NOT mention this to ANYONE. It is a genetic fault I have the shoulders and back size of an Asian swimmer on steroids, and if you speak of this size to ANY sales person, they will automatically assume I am a large, beached form of aquatic mammalia unless you stipulate otherwise) and size (insert much, much smaller size here, but which would still look ginormous to American viewers on their strange 0-2 size scale) knickers.

He then went on to ask me how he was going to manage to get item 3 on the 'Horsey Stuff' section -

- 2 X White saddle blankets, Mr Darcy & Altibo Bay embroidered on left side in royal blue with gold binding -

to which I replied I had taken the liberty of emailing a local embroidery firm with my details and request and they would shortly be getting back to him with regards to a quote.

I don't think he realized how serious this Christmas thing is to me.