Humidity

For what has felt like the last month my hair has been looking horrendous, well, I've felt like it's been looking horrendous. It wasn't too bad tied back...but it was frizzy and pouffy and would kink in all the places it had been tied back at. I was not liking it, and put it down to the humidity in Sydney.

We have recently been fluctuating in temperatures here in Sydney. We've had days were the temperatures have gotten up to 30 degrees centigrade, and others were the days have been as cool as 15 degrees centigrade. The humidity, however, has been happily sitting at 60% plus, some days getting as high as 85%. So it's been humid. It sucks. I can definitely say I HATE humidity. I can see no benefits of humidity. It makes things hotter and stickier and so much more uncomfortable. I shall melt away this summer...

I hadn't put my hair problems entirely down to the humidity until we went back to Canberra this weekend (which has a humidity of 40% throughout the weekend) and my hair was back to it's usual gorgeous self. I did the obligatory 'google' for hair in humidity and found that soma anti-frizz shampoo should do the trick. Sure enough, my hair is now back to its former glory! Yay!

OMG, PINK!

I LOVE these girls, and this video. They are so infectiously happy and hilarious! Oh my goodness, what I wouldn't give to look inside their world for just 5mins. I imagine it would be a very pink and sparkly world.

If you need a cheer up, this video should do it. 

All by myself

I'm home alone the next two nights. It's a little lonely. I know James and I have done proper long distance, but now that we're living together two nights feels so long and weird...

...off to my Pad Thai for one. :)

Bubble Flowers

The kids at work have been loving the bubbles we've been blowing outside. I love how excited they get when I pull them out. They have all also been super keen to try and blow the bubbles. Since we haven't done much art in the room I thought I would build on the bubble blowing to make some bubble art. I found this on pinterest, and thought I'd give it a test drive this weekend before trying it with the kids (the pin hole in the straw is a pretty nifty tip). I couldn't find any tempera paint, so I don't know how well that paint works, but ordinary washable paint didn't seem to have much affect on the bubble's colours. It is possible I needed to use more paint than I had available. However, food colouring did work. For the best effect I blew a whole bunch of bubbles and then dropped in the food colouring, it had the added bonus of looking super cool too!

I think this one may be worth trying with the kids this week. :)

Cutest Halloween Costume

Source

I know Halloween was Wednesday, but I just had to share this. Aren't they just the cutest family ever? I love the costumes, they put a massive smile on my face. These guys have the cutest costumes every year, you should look them up. I love this family way too much considering I've never met them.

It's "Spring"

Today was SO warm. It is apparently "Spring" here in Australia...but it feels a lot more like summer. On my walk to work today I could have SWORN it was 30 degrees Celsius. But no. It was 20...what? How? There is no way that heat my body was enduring was 20 degrees Celsius...it felt so hot. Weather people, I am on to you and your lies! We keep our apartment at 20 degrees, and outside was definitely a LOT warmer.

I have already experienced one Australian Summer, but most people have told me that last Summer doesn't really count. I am not exactly looking forward to finding out what 30 degrees feels like. 

Ho hum, there are much worse things than living in a beautiful and very warm country. :)

Cutest Ghosts Ever

I've been feeling very crafty recently, and was feeling that all the stuff I did over the weekend just wasn't enough to make our nursery a Halloween wonderland. So, on my walk home I popped into K-mart to pick up some super bouncy balls, some elastic bands and a 3XL white t-shirt. The result is a collection of the cutest ghosts ever. I LOVE them! I'm keeping one at home just incase they get played with beyond repair at work. :)

Preparing for Halloween

Halloween is next week, and as I explained yesterday I have taken it as an excuse to organise all sorts of fun activities for the kiddies in the Nursery room next week. I was hoping to make some gloop/slime as a textile exploration for the kids, but unfortunately ALL of our attempts at that have resulted in something that would not be suitable for little kids. We did have a lot of fun, but none of the attempts could really be called gloop or slime. Oh well!

I did manage to make myself a Halloween costume (I'll share that later), some Monster bowling pins, a pumpkin bowling ball, a sign to remind parents we are dressing up for Halloween on Tuesday, some pumpkin spice playdough and am waiting for the orange dye to dry on some felt so I can make some felt pumpkins that the kids can arrange faces on. :D I also have some painting plans for next week too: Feet ghosts (white footprints look like ghosts when upside down) and blob spiders (the kids have been loving bubbles and so want to try and blow the bubbles, so I thought they could use straws to blow spider legs for a blob of paint). I am excited for next week. :)

Why hello there!

 Hi there!

I know it's been a while, but it's been good for me. :) I'm not completely back to where I wanted to be with my break from my blog, but I'm definitely getting there. I've gotten back to the point of wanting to share rather than feeling like I should.

So, in the past month and a half I was asked to become a permanent casual at a childcare center I'd been working at, to cover for a sick staff member. James and I have pretty much planned the furniture we'll buy as and when we have an apartment to furnish, and we've started saving up for all that. We've also started making weekends full of treats, which we are loving. :D

The center I've been working at has been going through changes, but it now has a new Director and she is doing wonderful things to improve the center. The room I'm working in needs the most change, and unfortunately the permanent staff in that room are the most reluctant to change. It's been driving me a bit crazy, but I'm coping with it. We've done barely anything creative with the kids, and I've been in the room since August. The new Director has done painting with the twice, and I've got the crayons out for them. The Director gave both rooms a playdoh recipe this week which we've made, and I am getting out every day...but we have yet to get the permanent staff actively being creative with the kids. With next weeks being Halloween I've decided to find anything and everything toddler worthy to do next week.

Today we went for a walk to Darling Harbour. We got some Gloria Jeans. We went to Broadway and did a whole bunch of shopping for my Halloween ideas. We then spent the afternoon making (and failing quite a bit) goop. Tomorrow we're going to Ikea and I'm making the rest of my Halloween crafts. :D It's a good weekend.

Break

Photo by me. I miss the gorgeous blossom tree from home.

I'm going to take a break from my blog. I know it wasn't long ago that I finally decided what I want my blog to be, but I think I need a break. I need to live life a little more. At the moment I feel like all I do is work and sit around drinking tea, there isn't much I want to share from that kind of life. This blog was created when I was at uni, when it was a super welcome distraction, when I loved taking photos of my life, when I had things to take photos of.

I want to rediscover my love for photography, it's practically disappeared, and that makes me a little sad.
I want to start drawing more.
I want to get out of the house more.
I want to read more.

I want to sort myself out, just a little bit, get myself to a proper happy place. :) The posts I am drawn to most on other blogs are those with gorgeous photos, and thats what I want to fill my world with...but I know I can't at the moment, so I need time to work on that.

I'm not leaving. I'll still be reading. I just won't be posting anything here for at least a month. :)

See you on the other side.

My Life in Song - Where You Lead

Where you lead by Carole King, aka the theme song to Gilmore Girls. If you have never watched Gilmore Girls, I recommend you do. It's amazing. 

Memories:

1. Doing a little finger dance with Niki during the intro to Gilmore Girls. She introduced me to the show. I am so glad she did. :)

2. My mum and sister at graduation. I don't even think this song was playing at graduation, but they had both taken to watching Gilmore Girls together, and started doing the finger dance together. At the end of graduation a song was playing, and they were happily doing a little finger dance at me. I think it was at that point that I knew I'd have to find myself a quiet place to go cry for a bit. :)

Adorable

I realise that I am currently just posting youtube video's, but life is just work and eating at the moment, so not much to report on. Plus this is super adorable. :) Enjoy!

My Life in Music - Spice Girls

Ah, the Spice Girls. I'm sure they bring back many memories for most girls that lived through the 90's. I loved them! There music still makes me smile.

Every time I hear one of their songs I think of a couple of different things. Firstly, living in Austria. My friends and I loved them. My friends had their barbie dolls, t-shirts, etc. I'm pretty sure the only Spice Girl things I owned were their CD's (I'm pretty sure it was all on CD by then, I may have had the odd tape?), their video (it was bright green!) and a body spray/deodorant thing. I remember once spraying a boy with the deodorant thing, because him and his friends were following me and my friends and we didn't like it (or maybe we did, and it was our way of flirting, I was about 9 at the time, so who knows!). I also remember telling my mum about it, she didn't look too pleased. It's odd the things you keep in your head!

Secondly, the Spice Girls make me think of our car journey's to Confirmation classes. My best friend and I were in the same class, so we would go to one of our houses after school on a (I want to say) Thursday, and hang out/do our maths homework together until it was time to go to Confirmation. On the way we would listen to the Spice Girls, much to the dismay of the other girl we were car pooling with who seriously looked like she would have rather died than participate with our fun, and dance the whole way to church. :)

I think I shall always have a spot for the Spice Girls in my heart.

Fun Fact: James had never heard this Spice Girl song before the Closing Ceremony of the Olympics. Well, he asked what song it was because he had never heard it before. I felt speechless.

Let's draw more

I can't remember where I found this, but it's so true. Well, partly true, it's not the ONLY way, but a way. Reading works too. :)

Welcome back X-Factor

That's right, X-Factor is back on our screens! Yay! Unfortunately for us, we are in Australia, so can only watch the whole episode of the Australian X-Factor...which, doesn't quite do the 'bad' acts as well as the UK. It's all good, good, amazing, good...which gets a bit boring. They are also on a mission to create an Australian One Direction, they are actually going to put solo acts together to make the ultimate boy band AND get One Direction to come mentor them...oh dear! We still get to watch some of the UK X-Factor acts on their youtube channel, and so far they have produced my favourite acts.

Above is Jahmene Douglas. Oh man, he made us smile so much. That cute little laugh at the end of pretty much every sentence is just adorable! James said he thought he was definitely going to be good, because he has that musician/actor weird quirk thing going on. He was amazing.
Below, Sheyi Omatayo. Cookie Monster. Hilarious.

Quote to Inspire #38

Irish Proverb - such true words.

The Visa is in

Yesterday (Friday) morning, James and I went and handed in my Visa application! Eeee! We had a minor moment of concern. There are a couple of ways in which you can pay for the Visa, and the form says if you are paying by debit card, you have to pay in person. So, thats what we planned to do, because I have a debit card. We went to the Visa place, queued at the information section and then asked where it was we had to go to pay for the Visa, to be told by the man the other side of the counter that you can't pay by debit card. It's an option on the form, why would you give people and option on the form that isn't an option? I showed him my card, just to make sure, and he said "No, you'll have to get a bank cheque" (or something along those lines, I was a bit too annoyed to pay too much attention). We stood around a bit confused as I tried to convince James the form gave me that option, and it said in person. I showed him on the the computers they had for information. Whilst we were doing that a nice lady asked if we had any questions. She explained that since about May 2011 they changed things so that you could no longer pay by debit card, but said Mastercard's can be used as credit cards. We quickly changed that on the form, and she stamped our forms with a "received" stamp, and it was in! Yays! Stupid man behind the counter. But yay! It's in, now we just have to wait.

Also, the lovely lady who took in the application asked me what Visa I was currently on, and when it expired. She did not seemed concerned about it expiring in November. I am hoping (fingers tightly crossed) that this may mean we should be granted the Visa by then. I won't hold my breath though.

I don't really know what to do with myself anymore though...I have no Visa to work on.

Wise Words

source

He was a very wise man. :)

In other news, I made a playdough pizza at work with the kids. Toppings included: mushrooms, sausages, smarties, marshmallows and lemons. Yum!!! :P

My little Medical Adventure

source

I went for my Visa Medical today. It was interesting. As told, I arrived 15 mins early (30mins actually, but thats only because it was either that or late), got my ticket and waited. When my number was called I went up to the desk and had my Visa Medical forms checked out, all sorts stamped on them and then got my photo taken, "No smiling!". I have never understood why we can't smile, do people really walk around not smiling more than they do smiling? Wouldn't they be more recognisable if they were smiling in the photo? Wouldn't everyone be that bit happier with their photos if they could smile?
Anyhoo, that done, I had to go wait in the X-ray room. I went to the bathroom first, so didn't actually have to wait. I was guided to a cubical thing to put on some top/apron thing for my chest x-ray. I was kind of excited about the chest x-ray. I've never had an x-ray before. It was a disappointment. I don't know anything about hospitals and all the machines they use, but I was hoping for something cooler than I screen I had to press myself against, a 'click', and it being done. But I did not get any more than that. Major let down.
Next, was some more waiting. Then I got called through for the sight, height and weight check. With the added urine test...remember how I said I went to the bathroom before? Silly me. I have no idea why the lady who directed me to the bathroom didn't just say "You'll need to give a urine sample soon, might be best to hold it in.", but she didn't. Oh well. My sight is fine with my glasses on, score! My height is 165cm, and my weight 64kg. I like getting official measurements from doctor people. :)
That done and it was another wait, for the blood test. Eeek! I am awful with needles. At school when I was little, the school would do vaccinations, and everyone had to go wait for them, even if they weren't getting one that year. I was in tears because I thought I was going to have to get an injection, sobbing. I don't do needles. But, I had braved my way through them last year, so I told myself I could do it. My name was called. I went in, sat on the chair, stuck out my arm and turned my head away. I felt the prick, and then myself getting ever more faint. After it was done, two little tubes of blood, I was seeing black. I was not breathing properly. I couldn't speak, and I was crying. I didn't want to cry, but I couldn't control it. I felt dizzy and faint. Needless to say, I shall not be donating blood any time soon.
After a 5-10min calm down in the blood sample room I moved on to my last wait, the check up thing. My blood pressure was taken, heart listened to, and that groovy knee-hitting-leg-kicking thing done. And DONE!

I have spent the rest of the day doing nothing because my arm hurts and I'm super freaked out blood will just start spurting out of it. I know that's silly, but I am silly. :)

Medicals are interesting.

Visa stuff

This week has been full steam ahead with my visa application. We spent quite a while getting ready, basically getting our head around what we need to do...and which forms we need to fill in. It was a slow and stressful beginning, the amount of stuff that needs to get done, and the price of it, was extremely overwhelming! But we're getting somewhere now! I got quite a lot done this week, dedicating each evening to one form, and spending today getting the little things done (I didn't get any work, poo).

So far we have:
-My form filled out
-James' form filled out
-My character check form filled out
-All but one of our certified copies of numerous things (passports, birth certificate, proof we live together, proof we share bills, etc. etc.)
-Photos to show our relationship through the years
-2 statutory declarations from James' family (with 3 more to come)
-My three Police checks (one for each place I've lived the last 10 years) sent off

Still need to do:
-Medical (booked for tomorrow morning, and paid for)
-Mine and James' statutory declarations of our relationship

Awesome! :D I am a very happy bunny at the moment! Being able to see the finish line makes things so much easier!