Climbing & Kitty Collars

View from the top.

I love it when Chef has time off, but ugh, it's exhausting. I've spent the last few days in a flurry of road trips, hiking, tennis playing and rollerblading. We spent Friday at my mums and on the beach, and Saturday we celebrated Australia Day with Seah & Tezz (and the kids, of course) by having a barbeque. Sunday was the Australia Open Grand Final, and we played a few games ourselves (the standard wasn't quite the same...). Monday involved harnessing the dogs up and going rollerblading, and another match of tennis in the arvo. I was so sick of my feet by this stage and not being able to do anything, I was just doing it anyway. Yesterday we - for some bizarre reason unknown to man - decided to take the dogs hiking. We headed for the You Yang ranges and climbed to the top of the world (or so it felt like) and took in the view at the top of Flinders Peak. After eventually made it back down (after seeing the most amazing Wedge Tailed Eagle and the dogs having hysterics), we bummed around Geelong foreshore for a while before consuming the biggest pizza I have ever seen, and watching Knocked Up and Super Bad.

One of the few quiet moments Sahara & I have had lately.

This morning we both had our animal handing course at the RSPCA, and after we returned and sorted out the issues with our electricity and gas provider (I am now a client of Red, which used 100% renewable and green hydro power, so I'm doing my bit to remove my carbon feet!) we buggered off to the lake to get the dogs out the house, as we had our agent showing through more prospective tenants. When I returned, Cleo was hiding in the back room, and wasn't wrapping herself around me in raptures of delight as usual. I noticed two largish spikes coming from Cleo's collar, and thought she must had wrecked it already. On closer inspection, it turns our either the estate agent or one of the people she showed through the house had inserted pins into the collar to - presumably - stop her bell from ringing. In the half hour from me leaving the witch in my house to returning, someone had, for some reason which is completely beyond me, done that to a 12 week old kitten. I am less than pleased, and have sent her an email - pardon my French - ripping her a new asshole, and demanding an apology.

Bitch hurt my kitty.

Australia Day!

It went from this...



...to this, very quickly!



...More to come!

101; Dedicated to Heath

All I have to say is this:



I had every intention of marrying this man after seeing it for the first time.

BMI bugger up

Thanks to Susie @ Everyone Loves A Boston Girl, I will be glued to my computer all day. She posted a link to a brilliant Marie Clarie Hair Makeover virtual thingy, and I of course had to have a go - then found the virtual 'try on clothes' model - heck, who wouldn't?!

I entered my height, followed by my weight...

AND THEY WOULDN'T ACCEPT IT. It came up with a pop up window telling me I cannot weigh 115 pounds and be 5ft 10, as it's below the acceptable Body Mass Index.

Um. What the? First they tell me my BMI is too low if I wanted to model in Milan (ha!) as only a BMI over 18 is acceptable (apparently any one under that is anorexic), and now Marie Clair wont let me play dress ups unless I tell them I gained 5 kilo.

Well, pass the chocolate is all I can say.

{Update: I didn't like any of the outfits anyway, so I choose to walk on the pier in my default knickers. Isn't I sexy?}

Wait for it...

To say I'm super excited about our new home could be considered a colossal understatement.
I'm hobbling around the house contemplating where I shall be placing my belongings, wondering how the dogs will take to their new home (and if Phoenix has a nervous breakdown in the process of finishing our packing) and (yes, yes I know I'm sad) fantasizing about how lovely it's going to look at Christmas, and where to put the fairy lights.

I can't believe we have 10 days to wait! I'm also a little shocked how much stress I'm not under today. Over the past few weeks, I've gone from anger at retarded real estate agents, to nervous anticipation over finding out if we got our house (I'll gloss over the full blown panic attacks at actually being homeless before we found the new place) to... contentment. Or, as my thesaurus suggests, tickled pink.

We're leaving our festering shit hole of a house! Hurrah!

This time last year, when we moved into said property, Chef couldn't get time off, we didn't have a truck, the landlord decided to hike our rent up because I was a student, and so on and so forth. In short: Twas a Nightmare. With a capital N.

I even started feeling a little... limp. Empty. Bored. I realize I need some sort of challenge and excitement in my life to feel motivated.

Thank goodness for the RSPCA induction yesterday. As I've already participated in events over the Christmas period, and Sarah can attest I'm not a raving lunatic, I have my final orientation & animal handling course next Wednesday. With Chef. And the following week, we both start as animal handlers (which basically means cleaning cages and feeding etc) and the exciting part of walking and loving all those poor puppies & kittens. Sahara and Phoenix are going to think we smell wonderful when we come home (home! *wipes a single tear of happiness*). And the fact my relationship with Chef has changed so dramatically recently to something completely amazing is going to be helped even more by the fact we'll be sharing something that means so much to me. All I can say is...bring on the next few weeks! And check back for the posts when I start falling apart from stress...it's gotta happen soon!

Yes! and No!

The good news? We got our house! I've spent the morning signing the lease and relevant documents, and handing over vast amounts of cash to secure the property. We move in on the 2nd!



The not so great news? One of these little bastards bit me - twice - on Saturday night. I didn't think so much of it, until I awoke with pus dripping down my feet, and giant white sacs of pain blistering on my toes. I also now have a large red ring growing slowly and painfully up my toe as the venom spreads. I'm on 6 days of anti-biotics to take the infection/venom down, and am supposedly meant to stay off my feet for a week to ease the pain and stop the poison spreading. Um. Fair enough - it's not like I have a house to pack and move!

Note: For the Americans -White Tails are only little, about 4cm long, but I felt the need to upscale the photo to impress just how much pain I am in.

Morality? Me?

Oh dear.

I had no qualms ruthlessly murdering the baby, yet I had an internal struggle to decide if I could throw a mortally wounded man overboard to save others.

Click here if you want to know what I'm banging on about.

And then condemn me.

vaguely interesting facts about yours truly.

1). I was named after the song Walking on Sunshine, by Katrina & the Waves.

2). I have broken/fractured or cracked around 11 bones - finger, wrist, shoulder, 2 ribs, cheek bone, foot, and more recently, dislocated my shoulder approx. 8 times last year. The most memorable was my 5th date with Chef, when he accidentally shut my hand in his car door, crushing 4-5 bones in the process. Ouch.

3). I am proud to say I didn't cry once when breaking/fracturing/dislocating/crushing any of the above.

4). When I was 8, I discovered a fossilized turtle shell at my local beach, which turned out to be around 150 million years old. I named him Tom II (after my very own tortoise) and he now resides in the Melbourne Museum.

5). My only real death defying experience was in 2004 on a trip to the UK with my mother. After we leveled out from our midnight pit stop in Hong Kong, there was a massive explosion and the engine on my side (i.e right next to my window) exploded and caught fire. As I had hysterics, we had to fly for over an hour to drop 440 tonnes of fuel into the ocean so we could land safely. As this was in the aftermath of 9/11, and the entire city would have been able to see our 747 on fire flying over the buildings, we were ushered off the plane by militants armed with machine guns and strapped in ammunition.

6). When I was younger, my biggest ambition in life was to be a professional ice hockey player. It didn't work out so well, what with living in a country with no ice.

7). I'm allergic to avocado.

8). My first kiss was in my year 7 in high school, when a mini tornado was ripping through the area. My tongue bled for hours. (He was then referred to as 'Vampire Daniel'. Needless to say, it wasn't the long lasting love like I had anticipated).

9). I got my very first speeding fine yesterday, after over 5 years of driving.

10). Public speaking? No worries. Heights? Don't phase me. Attempt giving me a wet willy or ask me to put my hand in a sink? I will run away. Screaming.

11). I have seen The Queen in real life. She's very small, but immaculately dressed.

12). I met my best friend on the school bus in grade 6. Our friendship didn't start so wonderfully - she'd pull my hair and put M&M's down my top, until one day we joined forces and ganged up on everyone else. We ruled that bus, but our maturity level hasn't escalated a lot since then. Our best times are spent being silly in a way no one else would understand. (Thankfully).

13). I can lick my nose with my tongue (if I remove my piercing).

14). The first dress I wore was to my Debutante Ball - I am what is typically referred to as a tom boy, although some people mistook that for 'man-hating lesbian'. In my teens, my mother often worried about that, I fear.

15). I suck at team sports - hence my interest in tennis, surfing & horse riding. Having said that, I am passionate about my teams - Arsenal & The Toronto Maple Leafs.

16). I have been to 4 different schools, mainly as a result of spending 5 years going through court after our grade 5 teacher turned out to be a pedophile. Living in a small town meant the majority of people turned against us 8 year old girls for 'making up stories to disrupt the town' and brandishing us whores. Turns out he had a 25 year record and 211 charges of rape and assault, and a further 250+ being brought against him. He later died in jail.

17). I can't wait to travel to the US - and meet a moose in Canada, one of my lifelong dreams.

18). I am hoping to enroll in a Diploma of Professional Writing & Editing this year. I love reading, and always have at least 2-3 books on the go at once, and am totally anal retentive about spelling and punctuation - I'm hoping one day to make a career from that.

19). My last relationship ended when I found him in bed with another girl....and boy.

20). I was vegetarian for 12 years, and although I eat fish & chicken now, I like my meat to resemble actual meat as little as possible. Deep frying helps a lot.

This, that & the other.

The table for our dinner party on Saturday. I was aiming for sophistication. I failed dismally.

Kitty + Puppy loving = Chillaxing in my lounge.

Phoenix admires my new hair color.

...there's more puppy lovin' pics on my other blog, here.

Cleo the GobStopper

I've been running around like a headless chook today, preparing for cooking dinner tonight. It's not just the scary part of actually having to cook, it's making lists, scrubbing walls, and searching for the perfect tablecloth (or at least one that isn't made from plastic) and all the while having murderous thoughts about people from Oriental descent. Living in the Chinese Capital of Victoria has its up sides - there's always Sweet & Sour Chicken available at 3am - but apparently finding a car park in the local mall is impossible. It took me 35 minutes just to turn around to get out the exit. Needless to say, there was much swearing involved.

So once I made it home - exhausted, disheveled and foul tempered - I sat down for a calming 5 minutes with a cup of tea and some dodgy day time TV. Apparently this equates to an invitation for Cleo to climb in my mouth.


I thought this one was utterly adorable from this morning - she likes my new shoes, too!


And although I don't recall taking this one, I just found it on my phone, and it made me giggle.