12/31/2014

Damien guest blog to catch you up on the week. 

Happy New Year! Damo biked down a day later after celebrating his Dad's birthday. The following day we went scuba diving and saw lots of fish despite the choppy water. Maddie needed an Aloha bag but instead used the side of the boat. We also played lots of board and card games, including Rummikub, Ticket To Ride and 500. Other activities including long romantic walks on the beach (actually Maddie made me do 60+ Crunches so I made her run up enormous sand dunes haha), accidentally hitting golf balls into dams, and her first ever Aussie Surf-ari! She was really good and stood up on the board for at least 5 seconds ;) However the biggest highlight has been the endless quantities of food and wine! Maddie prepared a delicious choice of two pastas for everybody and then topped that off with a delectable chocolate cheesecake. Everybody wanted seconds and thirds! Clearly Americans make the best desserts! We are staying at a big house on the beach, so for midnight NYE we climbed up on to the roof deck so counted down and drank champagne :) unfortunately we have to head back to Melbourne in a couple of days - everything has been perfect: weather, friends and summer fun. Hope you are all celebrating in style. Best wishes for a happy and successful 2015!

12/27/2014

Day 2 at the beach house. I woke up earliest and had coffee while watching the ocean. Our morning was taken up with grocery shopping. So much food! After lunch we hit the rail trail. It is 6km from the house and goes for 16km. It is dirt track so not the best for my fancy bike. I rode down with everyone else and then back via the highway and an extended 10km. On the dirt track I got a flat which slowly leaked out over my ride home. Damien arrived around dinner time. Dinner was Ange and Dave tonight. They make delicious grilled vegetables and lemongrass beef. After dinner we played ticket to ride followed by more 500. Then we did a holiday gift exchange where we passed around discarded presents. I got glow sticks and Damien gave away a "go anywhere toilet" so much fun!

12/26/2014

On a beach vacation until new year. This morning I woke up cleaned a bit and grabbed all my things to leave. I caught the 10:25 train to Drouin about 100km south east of my house, then I rode the last 75km to Harmer's Haven. It was a beautiful ride, my bike didn't appreciate the quality of the road but it was lovely none the less. I arrived at 4pm and met the others who were already here. I am on vacation with justin, Svie, Ange, Dave, Dan, and Damien will be joining us tomorrow. 

Today we explored the house, went for a walk on the beach, and had beer can chicken for dinner. We have also started the game tournaments. This evening we played blockus and 500. 

Tomorrow promises more food, bike riding, and games.

12/26/2014

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah too... Since I missed blogging all Hanukkah. It gets dark so late here that I was doing Hanukkah candle right before bed instead of blogging. 

Things I have missed: I graduated on December 20th. I had 4 great graduation guests. I am going on a beach vacation with 6 friends for new year. We are heading to the beach tomorrow. 

Today I spent Christmas with Damien and his family. It was lovely. So much food, as expected. It was lovely to chat with them all day. 

12/11/2014

I feel like my life has been going non-stop for months now. Since about the time exams in April. Now, my days are still packed but I am really starting to realise that I am done with the DPT program and things are coming to an end. Some friends have started moving away back to where they are from or off to somewhere new. I found myself wondering for the first time today: How many of my classmates will I keep in contact with? 

I also have a big decision to make. Kat is moving out at the end of January, So I need to decide if I want to stay here or move somewhere else and if I want to live alone or find a housemate. Big questions. 

All whilst trying to clear my to do list. I am making very slow progress but I'm getting things crossed off. 

More work tomorrow and then cleaning on the weekend :)

12/8/2014

Happy birthday Dad! I know what I'll get you! A blog post! I'll write to you(and everyone else) for your birthday. You should feel special it's literally been months and I almost went to bed without doing it. 

So I'm trying to get several chores done. It doesn't seem like much but it took up my entire day and I still didn't cross much off my list. I am organising paperwork to get registered as a physiotherapist, organising visa paperwork, working on MBA assignments, organising myself for graduation guests, and various other small errands. My to do list fluctuates slightly but for everything I accomplish it brings up 2-3 more things to take care of. To make matters even funnier I need to make several phone calls and my neighbors are remodeling their kitchen. It's been a gamble if it will stay quiet long enough to make a call. 

So a little bit exciting: I went on a run today and did a workout at the park. It's lovely and sunny here. I went down to laksa king for dinner and it was just as delicious as ever. It was strangely quiet tonight so I had a chat with the owner about how I don't eat bean sprouts. 

And that's the day! Have a picture... Not of today but of another day.