Sharing a Favourite Memory

I've traveled pretty extensively over the last few years, and as a result I have made wonderful friends, shared lots of adventures and made happy memories.

One of my favourite memories took place in the USA a few years ago while I was embarking on a 3 month overseas trip. My dad and I spent weeks driving around Canada and the USA, including a 2 week tour. The tour group was one of the best I have ever traveled with. There was none of the normal squabbling and cattiness that can occur when you put that many people together in a confined bus. During the tour, my Dad and I became close to a couple called Bernie and Judy.

Dad and Bernie began telling jokes and bouncing off each other which made them hilarious. Judy spoke about her grandchildren and showed me lots of adorable pictures. In return I showed Judy and Bernie pictures I had brought with me, and when I got to the last picture that contained an image of my grandmother and myself Judy and Bernie stopped in surprise. They knew my grandmother from a walking group in Sydney! It was the strangest thing to meet people who knew my family whilst halfway across the world!

By the time we got to Yellowstone we had joked about coming across a bear quite often. So one night after walking to dinner at Yellowstone, we came across this sign:

This sign did say bear at one stage but as you can see the elk are the bigger threat

 Of course this was very helpfully placed at the end of the path that we had just walked on. It made my dad start bragging though. He was all 'I'm a cattle man, I can handle an elk" "I'll be the matador". Of course we didn't see a single creature on the way back.

A day after seeing that sign at Yellowstone my dad, Bernie and I went for a walk to explore the area. All was going fine until we came across an elk on one of the paths. She was clearly a little distressed and kept looking over he shoulder which indicated she had a calf hiding in the bushes. Fortunately she was alert but not alarmed and we walked past.

Since it was the only way back to our accommodation, we had no choice but to return the same way and that is when things got interesting. The elk went from being just aware of us, to wanting to get us out of there ASAP and started moving her foot like she was going to charge. Guess who was the first to bolt for the cover of the trees? That's right, Mr big shot matador. Bernie and I turned around and he was gone, leaving us to fend for ourselves.

Who would run from this cute elk?

After that my Dad was named 'The Elk Whisperer' and he will never live it down.

Sadly Bernie passed away last month, after a long battle with cancer. He will be greatly missed.

Even his illness couldn't keep Bernie from attending our engagement party.

Things That Change With a Puppy - Part 2

One
Weekends are dedicated to how to help tire out a puppy with seemly boundless energy. This usually involves a long walk and throwing around a ball. It can have the adverse effect of tiring out the humans as well.

Two
You never know when you are going to put your slipper on and step on something inside.

For those keeping score - yes that is a tooth. We have found 4 so far and still counting...

Three
There's a lot of sleeping in awkward looking positions. He's always watching, even when he is sleeping

Four
As a lover and expert of sticks, Ollie always has a ready supply on hand and it is nothing for him to bring these inside through the doggy door.

Five
He is growing up too fast. One day he fit on my lap and the next he is huge. He is now able to reach the kitchen bench and on his last trip to the vet he weighed close to 15kg. None of this can stop him from getting cuddles on demand

Things that have been keeping me busy

It has been a very busy few weeks so here is a recap.

I think the most exciting thing that has happened is I purchased a wedding dress. It's very girly of me but I'm truly excited about my dress. It feels like me, and I feel comfortable in it. Plus it looks amazing and I just love it.

The actual dress is a surprise until the big day, but I haven't told you the most awesome part. It was 50% off! I tried it on ages ago but because I got really busy with moving and Ollie I couldn't get back to the store for awhile. By the time I did, the dress had gone on sale.

In other news, Ollie is growing like crazy. I swear that his tail doubled overnight, his legs are suddenly long and he quickly outgrew the first harness that we got him. Remember this photo from when we first met him?

Well now it's more like this:

Ollie just isn't going to fit on my lap for much longer

Giant paw

Also a very special someone had a birthday. Happy birthday my David!

Homemade birthday cake, and it was perfectly delicious

Birthday wish

Our Puppy Mugged a Child

Yep, you read that right. Our sweet innocent little puppy mugged a child on the weekend and it was hilarious.

For this to happen, picture these:

held by one of these:

Throw in a sweet, little puppy (or should I say a scary, intimidating puppy)

End result, one petrified child:

Ollie absolutely loves kids, so when he saw a small child on the weekend he immediately wanted to make friends and play. Problem was the little boy was terrified of such a bouncing, excited puppy and he kept saying 'go away'. Not to be deterred so easily Olllie continued on his quest.

So how did the child respond? Well he threw the biscuit he was consuming behind him and ran. Ollie ran to the biscuit and I could almost see him going 'oh well not the reaction I wanted but I'll accept that' and he scoffed the biscuit. It was hilarious, I was keeled over laughing!

By the end of the day the small child and Ollie were the best of friends. It just took some time for the kids to realise Ollie wanted to play with them. After that all we could hear for the rest of the day was "Ollie, Ollie, Ollie, Ollie" and our puppy became the centre of attention.

The kids left begging their parents for a puppy, so everyone was happy (well maybe not the parents). Ollie was especially happy because he got himself a bonus biscuit and new friends, not a bad days work for a puppy.

Things That Change With a Puppy

Number One
Bye bye sleeping in, and hello 5.30am wake up calls. There's no Saturday or Sunday privileges either. 5.30am is the 'I've just woken up and I have to go to the toilet NOW' . This is all worthwhile when this face is looking at us:

Cuddles with David

Number Two

Constant supervision, gone are our carefree days  - 'if it's on the ground it's mine to eat, even if it is bad for me or not one of my chew toys'. It's a small price to pay for a snuggly little man.

My stick, all the way from the backyard. It's very necessary that it remains indoors with me.

Number Three
We've gone from a clean house, to a muddy one and we're not worried:

Rain + puppy = wet and muddy paws

The gardening assistant - Ollie already loves water and had a blast jumping in puddles

Number Four
Every day that we come home, Ollie is waiting for us and is super excited to see us again. It makes our house more like a home :)

Ollie - the cutest little puppy ever.

Number Five
Responsibility - we fuss over him, ensure that he always has clean drinking water and jot down his next scheduled vet appointments.

Olie went to the vets for a 2nd vaccination and took it so well that he fell asleep on the vets table!

In Summary
Having a pet again is fantastic and we absolutely wouldn't change a thing

Our Family is Expanding!

We are going to be parents to our new little fur baby. I'm excited to announce the arrival next week of our fur-son Ollie (Oliver).

The snuggly little guy on the left is Ollie. As cute and adorable as his brother is, our yard is just not big enough for 2 dogs.

Cuddles

What's this? Lets eat it and find out.

I've always wanted an English Springer Spaniel. My grandparents had one called Casper when I was younger and he was wonderful - intelligent, a fantastic temperament and protective of his family. For a very long time after Casper passed away I missed him. This is what made me know that I wanted an English Springer Spaniel.

Ollie joins us very soon. We've spent all weekend puppy-proofing our yard to get things ready for him. It was a bit sooner than either of us expected to get a pet, but Ollie was available and the breed isn't widespread in Australia so I didn't want to miss out on an available litter.

Things That Are Awesome

Photo from here

If you are a Pride and Prejudice fan and haven't already seen the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, do yourself a favour and go get hooked. Seriously these video diaries will have you wanting more but persevere through the first couple - it takes a couple of episodes to appreciate them fully.

I'm totally loving Rachael Hale right now - I mean cute kitties and puppies what isn't to love! I have one of the puppy mugs that I use at work and I love my mug.

Photo from here

David and I loved reading this hilarious Contract for Potential Future Wives. No resemblance to any current real-life situation is implied or inferred (for the record, my future Mother-In-Law is totally awesome - as I tell David frequently).

Last time I was sick, David introduced me to this Sick Day comic. It's was a totally accurate account of my days off.

NBN Has Arrived!

As I mentioned in my last post we finally got the internet at our new home, and with the much talked about NBN.

I was really excited about this one, not just because I like the convenience of the internet but historically the NBN is a pretty significant event. As a result I was determined to be present to see it get installed.

It all went smoothly enough, but here's a little known fact - the NBN involves drilling a hole in your home's outside wall. Concequently we received information from our service provider about this to prepare us for the moment well before it was installed. It's a small price to pay to future proof our home.

Installation Begins

Once it had finished we were left with 2 really ugly and surprisingly large boxes inside. Whilst they are our connection to the outside world, it's 2013 and the age of small technology - do they really need to be that big? Thank goodness they can be tucked away in a corner:

Moving Tales

So we have moved in to our new house and we finally have internet again! Not just any internet either - we have NBN. The last 2 and a bit weeks without the internet were ok, but I have to say I really missed blogging the most.

After a stressful time packing and discovering exactly how much we own, moving day was suddenly upon us. It looked like this:

 Upon arrival, for at least a week afterward it looked like this:

I unpacked most of the boxes very quickly. There are still a few remaining but the important things we need are unpacked.

My new house has lots of storage. Including a cupboard under the stairs that everyone keeps comparing to Harry Potter. You walk to the end of the cupboard and turn left and it keeps going. It's also a great place to hide and forget about boxes.

Ever since I was a small child I've wanted a buffet and hutch. I think it comes from a rural upbringing and regularly seeing them in country homes. So now that I had space for one I could finally fulfill that wish. I found this stunning one second hand and I absolutely adore it:

Now that the boxes are clear let me show you pictures of our new home:

We couldn't resist using nails in the wall to hang pictures, and I think it gives it a much nicer homier feel. Our dining room and living room are North facing so we are already enjoying breakfast in the sun and it really warms up the house nicely.

It's so peaceful and in such a beautiful location. We have a family of ducks in the nearby pond and so many walking trails yet to be explored. I recently declared to David that I think when you buy a home your workplace should instantly give you 1 month off work (paid of course) just so you can enjoy your new home properly :)

Catch Up

Besides buying a house, life has continued to go too quickly. Am I alone in wishing you could pause life sometimes like you can a DVD, just to take a breather? Oh and the benefit is that then you could rewind when you've just done something bad. Like oops, I smashed my favourite vase, oh well I'll rewind and edit that. I digress though...

After the engagement party, I flew to Brisbane to attend a conference for work. It was a good opportunity to network and hear other speakers working in my field presenting new ideas. It was surprisingly tiring though, and considering that I'd already been doing too much it really took a toll on my health.

 The view from the Brisbane accommodation, from the 20th Floor overlooking the botanic gardens.

 The plane trip to Brisbane just had the most beautiful cloud formations, I had to capture it on camera.

By the time we had a planned trip to Ballina for a weeks holiday I was already physically exhausted and all I wanted to do was a day of 'nothingness'. That might sound boring but to laze around in pyjamas and simply rest and read seemed the best way to recharge my batteries.

Here's where I went wrong, rather than knowing my limits I had ignored my body. Consequently I got a terrible cold, and 2 weeks later I was still feeling awful. It turns out that I have asthma which explains a lot about why I have always struggled to throw off any colds. Now that I've been diagnosed it has made such a difference. I'm back to my normal happy and healthy self, and just having a name for it is a relief.

While we were visiting the North Coast, we (David, myself and his mum Christine) visited Coffs Harbour and swam with a dolphin called Bella (pictured). David and I fell in love with Bella, and we are both keen to eventually do the other experiences. This experience was the shallow water experience. It was the most amazing thing I have ever done.

We had a great time in Ballina, catching up with David's famly and enjoying the warm hospitality of his Auntie Ali and Uncle Allan. I also couldn't resist befriending their cat Rambo:

 How cute is that? With all the rain and the coldish breeze outside Rambo came in for a warm siesta.

On the way home from Ballina, we missed our bus back to Canberra. Our plane was delayed 3 hours from leaving Ballina airport and although I had left a 2-hour gap, it wasn't enough for extenuating circumstances. Luckily my grandparents gave us accommodation in Sydney for the night and we got to spend time with this cutie again:

We still don't have a clear moving date (since it's 2 weeks from when the tenants move out it is highly likely we will only have 2 weeks notice) and it is making moving plans tricky. I don't want to start packing too early and be tripping over boxes constantly, but I also don't want to be stressed out leaving it to the last minute. I'm really impatient to move in to the new house :)

David and I have almost booked a photographer for our wedding and we just had our save the dates printed. Soon it will be just a year until we get married ♥

It's Official...

We bought a house. Perhaps I'm biased but I think its the best house in the world :P

It's a little ugly on the outside, as are all new houses. It saddens me that our generation is going to be known for it's ugly square architecture. What it lacks in attractiveness, it makes up for with its practicalities inside.

Just a couple of steps away is a beautiful pond and a walking trail, that I am already planning to walk my (future) puppy around.

The garden needs a lot of work, but I prefer it that way. I'd rather start from scratch and set it up the way I want it rather than just inherit someone else's vision.


Unfortunately we are not too clear about our moving date yet, which makes planning a little tricky. As the house is tenanted, our settlement date is going to vary based on when the tenants move out. Still, it's only 6 weeks maximum at this point.

I'm so excited. Now I can have the puppy that I have always wanted, and hang pictures up. Best of all David and I can spread out in our 4 bedroom home and have a proper study and hobbies room.