hello everybody! My how the time does fly! I hope you are all well. When did I last write? I think it was winter and we still had heaps of snow left! Well, I will try to briefly update you on the last 6 months or so... So we skiied until the end of April and then started getting ready for warmer weather! Unlike usual, we did have an actual spring with sunshine and warm days. Then in May, I started a new business! I have teamed up with one of my closest friends from college, Lesley, who is a dietician. Lesley had been involved with a product called Juice Plus+, which is a capsule/chewable blend of 17 different fruits & vegetables. It is not a supplement, rather it is "whole food nutrition". Well, with my background in health & wellness, it instantly made sense to me! I got myself and Amelie on the product, as I wanted to see if it was any good. Frankly, I had my doubts, as I have tried just about everything under the sun with variable results at best. But to my surprise, I notice positive changes within a month and have loved it both for myself and Amelie too. So I decided that the business was a perfect fit for me as I want to share it with everyone I know! Please check out my website for more info: www.onebodyandjuiceplus.com So I have been doing wellness presentations and just talking to people about their health, which I love! What else.... the school year finally finished on June 25th and we were so ready for summer! AMelie had a hard year last year with being picked on a lot and struggling with friendships. She was begging me to be home-schooled! Uhhhh, no way dude. I love you and all, but let's find another solution.......!!! July came along and all 3 of us made our way back to the east coast to visit my family. First we went to a resort in the Blue Mountains of North Carolina to surprise my mom for her 70th birthday. I had arranged for my sister and her family to go as well, and we secretly got adjoining hotel rooms to my mom and stepdad's (they had already planned the visit just for themselves). You can imagine how SHOCKED my mom was when her kids and grandkids showed up at their hotel room door! It was great. So we enjoyed a few days with them at the resort, and then said good bye and headed to my dad's place, also in NC but 2 hrs drive east on Lake Norman. We stayed there for a week and just swam, waterskiied, and hung out in the sun and warmth! Chad then went on to Atlanta for a big Microsoft conference, while Amelie and I went to Florida to spend some more time with my mom. We went to the beach, Sea World, and swam in the pool. All in all we were gone 3 1/2 weeks and came home towards the end of July. Amelie did a couple of summer camps while I focused on some house jobs and just enjoyed the rest of the summer. There was one major dent in our summer; and it happened while we were at a friend's lake house out on the Olympic Peninsula. Our friends Bronwyn & Tom (Bron is our only Aussie friend here!)have a big gathering at their lake house each summer, so we always meet up again with friendly faces we haven't seen in a while. The kids get to run amok in nature and we all enjoy hikes, waterskiing, canoeing/kayaking, and great campfire singalongs in the evenings! It was Saturday evening and 3 of the dads decided to take all the kids out on the boats to a nearby swimming hole across the lake. So they divvied the kids up into 2 boats, about 12 kids in all, and they set off. Amelie is the only child to stay behind, apart from babies and toddlers. Two hours later, it is dark, we're singing around the campfire, and they're still not back. Bronwyn and I looked at eachother and we told someone to text Tom (who was driving one of the boats) and tell them to come back as the kids needed to be in bed already. I also then learn that there is no light on one of the boats. We didn't get a response, but about 1 minute later we could hear the boat motor. It is a very peaceful lake with little boat traffic, so we knew that it was them. I suddenly heard screaming. Of course when you have 12 kids together there is going to be screaming, so no one was really alarmed. But I knew it was the wrong kind of screams. I stood up and yelled at Chad to stop playing guitar. And as the boats got closer, I could suddenly make it out. It was 12 children screaming bloody murder, "CALL 911!!!!!!!!!!!CALL 911!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" over and over. It is completely black outside so we can see nothing, we can only hear the screams and the terror. We have no idea who is hurt (or dead), we only know that it is serious. I will never forget those sounds as long as I live. We quickly understand that no one has died. There has been a boating accident- one of our boats (the one with no light) has been hit head on and literally run over by another boat. Unbelievably, the boat that hit ours left the scene, despite the sounds of screaming children. The boat that was hit was driven by our friend Andrew, one of the dads, and was carrying 5 children. Andrew and one of the children, Bianca, were hit by the boat. Everyone else is unhurt, although tramatized. Andrew is unconscious, and both are bleeding badly. We quickly gather all the children who are not hurt and rush them into the house in an effort to calm them down and comfort them. Amazingly, one of the dads who was out on our boats is a trauma surgeon. I reckon he is the reason Andrew is still alive. IN addition, we also have 2 other doctors and a nurse in our group. This is a blessing, because it took almost 30 minutes for an ambulance to arrive, as we are out in the middle of national forest. Both Andrew and Bianca are taken to a local hospital, and from there they are quickly air-lifted to SEattle. In short, both have head trauma. Bianca also has a fractured skull, a broken nose, broken collar bone, and broken ribs. Miraculously, both of their MRI's come up clear with no severe brain injuries. From there, it is just a road to recovery. Bianca was able to start school and has completely healed. We saw Andrew just a few weeks ago, and while he still has problems with his memory and vision, he is fully functioning and has started back at work. We are all just SOOO relieved that they have both survived and are doing well, and that it was not a massacre out there that night. We are very fortunate indeed. There, I did not mean to tell the long version of that story, but it had a big impact on us so I guess it just came out. Ok, so that happened in the middle of August, and we are almost to the end of our summer holidays. We did a bit more hiking, swimming in the lake, and working out in the yard until the school year started up. Amelie is in 3rd grade this year. After much deliberation and a bad year last year, we decided to investigate our schooling options, and found a small Montessori school nearby. We took a tour and did a parent education night; and Chad and I both loved it. After Amelie did a "trial day" at the school, she loved it too, so we decided to switch schools. She started last week. We are so happy with the change- it is a wonderful community and the children learn in such a loving, nurturing, and wholistic environment. Amelie is also playing soccer, doing girl scouts, and playing piano. Chad recently had a gig in Miami! Actually he had organized a conference there and decided that he should be the headlining act for the happy hour event they were having! It went well, even if only about 1/2 of the audience was listening. Standard stuff! Meanwhile, I have been singing with the Acoustix for almost a year and have had one gig. I am quickly growing frustrated, as no one seems to be bothered with drumming something up. It is hard when you run your own "democratic" singing group- it's fun socially but challenging when making decisions and doling out responsibilities. Guess I need to start looking around for some gig opps! What else... oh yeah, now that it's autumn and the holiday season is closing in, the stores start selling pumpkin flavored everything. Pumpkin scones, pumpkin chai latte, pumpkin spice latte, pumpkin/chocolate chip bread, pumpkin biscotti, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin museli bars, pumpkin cereal, no shit, all this stuff is for real! There's probably 100 other items I have forgotten. Complete overkill. I also recently took AMelie and went with my friend and her daughter to the Family Farm Tour in the nearby Skagit Valley. All the farms open their doors to the public. It was super fun- we visited an alpaca farm, an apple farm, a dairy farm, and an oyster farm, to name a few. Then we stayed overnight at their cabin in Mt Baker. I have mentioned Mt Baker in a previous post, it is an awesome place! A real old school NOrth American mountain town. I love it there. This week my sister Whitney is visiting from Portland, Maine. We are super excited! We are also painting our living/dining rooms, hallway, and master bedroom this week. Well, the PAINTERS are painting it! I am still trying to finish this stupid desk and chair I bought at a garage sale for Amelie's bedroom. I bought it a few months after we moved here, just to give you an idea of what a giant headache it's caused me! I now know that refinishing furniture is NOT my thing... what a royal pain in the ass... We have already bought our ski passes for the upcoming season- we are excited for winter holidays and snow! HOpefully I will get a post out again before Christmas. Until then, my love and hugs to everyone!!! xxoo Please send word what's up with you!

spring has not sprung

oh woe is me, I have endured 4 months of dreary wet cloudy rainy-ness and still it goes on...most recently it has rained for 10 days straight. Yes folks, 10 days all in a row with no let up. Can you appreciate this?! No I don't think so. You have to live it. And I have. And it freakin sucks. Oh to feel the warmth of the sun on my skin, seeping into my bones, where oh where art thou??? It is enough to make you lose your mind.
On the bright side of this, we have heaps of snow. Not at my house mind you, but in the mountains there is plenty. So we will probably be skiing until May at this stage. Last weekend we took our first trip to Mt Baker. Mt Baker is only 2 1/2 hrs away and is a ski area in a national park that is run by the US Forestry Service. And Mt Baker gets a lot of snow. I mean A LOT! More than anywhere else in North America. It has an average annual snowfall of more than 700 inches (cm anyone?) and holds the world record for the greatest annual snowfall ever- 1,140 inches or 2896 cm! I will post a couple of photos taken of AMelie playing in a snow bank to give you an idea.
Anyway, our friends have a cabin up there and so we went skiing for the weekend. The beauty of this place lies in its lack of amenities. Because it is run by the forestry service, there is no accommodation on or near the mountain. There is no "base" where you can go for apres ski or walk around in shops and restaurants. The basic nature of this ski area means that your average joe skiier doesn't want to go there- and that means you have no lift lines and beautiful ski conditions in a wonderous wilderness environment practically all to yourself!
Both days were blue skies and sunshine (which is actually quite rare for the area)and I'm not sure I could've been much closer to heaven. I will spare you the details of my friend's husband taking me out of bounds into 10 ft of heavy snow that I expended all my energy trying to make turns and get out of as soon as possible before I started an avalanche. I thought I would kill him when halfway down the run he said "this stuff is probably a lot easier on a snowboard" (like the one he was riding)!
My singing group, the Acoustix, is going well. The first couple of months I wasn't sure it was a good fit for me. One thing I have come to learn is that one of the reasons everyone in my group is so experienced is that a cappella singing is so alive and strong in US high schools and universities. So they have already had so much opportunity to get really good. And there is a lot of competition within the US accappella scene, which drives the standard higher as well I suppose.
Anyway, now I've settled in a bit more and am really enjoying the group. ONe thing I have not gotten used to though (and probably never will) is how everyone sits around a boardroom table and sings for 2 hrs(I stand by myself- sorry but I can't sit and sing a high C). And more than that, half the people are either looking at their smartphone or typing emails WHILE THEY ARE SINGING AT REHEARSAL! I am not joking. Sue, you would not be pleased. It's no wonder no one in the group wants to be the musical director! But apart from those things, the group is great and we sing lots of fun songs (all contemporary pop 80s, 90s, 00s)and laugh a lot.
What else...I am still trying to work out what to do with my work life. I don't miss being a personal trainer but I do miss teaching group classes. I do miss working and hope to be involved with something new in the next few months. Maybe I will try to go and teach a few classes again. But just to give you an idea of how clueless I am about what to do, here are some of the "new career ideas" I've been having:

1) network marketing business (health & wellness or sex toys)
2) candy-making business
3) real estate investment
4) counsellor
5) naturopath
6) leftover paint recycle/resell business

Are you seeing a pattern here? Exactly! Neither am I!
I feel like I've written you a nice long post, and yet feel like I've said not that much. But I'm gonna post it anyway! I'll post some Mt Baker photos too. Love you guys!!! xoxo

this is Hugo

it's been a while

hey everyone. I know it's been AAAAGGEESS since I've posted. I"m not so good at this blog thing. Anyway, how are you all??? I am great. When the guy at Trader Joe's asked me "why great?"- I said well... because I am healthy and I have a lot of love around me and so many other blessings how can I be anything else?

So what's the latest- well firstly I FINALLY got into a singing group! Yep- Chad found them through a Microsoft feed (of course- this seems to be the basis for most activities around here) and I auditioned for them and I guess they liked me enough to ask me to join! I am so happy to be singing a cappella again. Let me tell you a little about the audition process though...

so one of the girls sends me an email saying to prepare a short solo, and they will take me through some basic exercises- scales, intervals, rhythm, sight-reading. In her own words, "its a very casual laid back process that will only take a few minutes". Ok cool.

Well, I arrive to the audition, which is at Microsoft of course and I go into a BOARDROOM and there is the whole group sitting around a CONFERENCE TABLE. They all have these "assessment sheets" in front of them and after everything I do they all pause to jot down notes about whatever it was I just did. YAH- casual??? I don't think so. Try incredibly unnerving! After one of the guys asked me to sing a high C a little bit more FRICKIN PIANISSIMO I finally said- "EXCUSE ME, what happened to the 'casual laid back audition process' I heard about??!!". Har Har, they all laughed, so my sense of humour must've gotten me called back cuz I can tell you it certainly wasn't my sight-reading skills.

Call backs were even worse! I was shaking with nerves the whole time- which was about 1 1/2 hrs. We had to learn 2 songs "Take On Me" by Aha and "HIDE AND SEEK" (YES AGENTS! WHAT ARE THE ODDS!) by Imogen Heap. We had about 10-15 minutes to learn a section of the song then we each had to get up on our own with one other person from each part (about 6 parts for each song) and sing it. I have to tell you it was pretty high pressure, and I consider myself a pretty quick learner). To be honest my throat was so tight from nerves, I didnt' think I sang that well, but in the end it was my stellar rhythm skills that saved me! Actually it was really that the other girl trying out stuffed it up and couldn't get back on the rhythm and the song was really fast so it wasn't easy at all.

So I was praying that I got in, not feeling overly confident about it, and lo and behold I did! Yippee!!! So there are about 14 people in the group and they all work for Microsoft except for 2 people whose partners work for Microsoft! Incestuous.

They are self-directed and their repertoire is all contemporary/pop/alternative rock. They are called Acoustix (cheese). That's about all I know so far- they seem to have a pretty high standard from the first rehearsal I went to last week, they perform about 1x month and mostly corporate and charity events. Also pretty regularly on Microsoft campus. As soon as I have some recordings I'll post them for sure! I'm so excited!

love ya'll

Inspired by Lola

hello folks, just recently I strangely found myself at the blog site of Madonna's daughter, Lourdes or "Lola" as she likes to call herself. Do not ask me about the cyber-trail I blazed to get there, for I am not totally sure myself. Nonetheless this is where I have been for the last 1/2 hour, so her blog must not be that bad eh? She's kinda entertaining and made me realise, well, that I'm getting old. What with her "lingo" and all which I thought was uber-cool and then thinking that I never speak like that nor does ANY SINGLE PERSON I know. And I'm not even sure I EVER DID speak like that, but anyway I did get a mini-education on her blog. And the point of this is that she inspired me to write to YOU lot, albeit without any fancy talk. It completely eludes me, and I find myself wondering at what moment in my past did I finally let go of the compulsion to say the word "like" after every other word in my sentences. Blah blah.

So it is almost the end of the school year here, so we are all getting excited for summer and potential payback in sunny weather for what we have had to endure the last 8 months. It had better be worth it! Otherwise I doubt I'll last 2 yrs in this town. We have no real plans to go anywhere, other than do a few little trips to nearby places such as Vancouver,the Olympic Peninsula, and Mt Rainier. As most of you know, Steph Payne is coming to visit us for a week during her US trip! How lucky are we?! So excited to spend time with a dear Aussie friend and perhaps sing a few notes together. So she is here from June 23rd-29th. Two days after that my mother-in-law arrives to stay for 2 1/2 weeks. While she is here I am shooting over to Rochester NY (my home town) for my auntie's wedding. This will be the first time I have been back to the place I grew up since I left for Australia over 17 years ago. Weird! Exciting-weird. I am planning to see a couple of old high school friends which will be amazing and of course see my old house and all my old "haunts", places which hold so many memories. It is a kind of "coming full circle" for me, since when I left for Australia in 1994, I did so with an attitude of wanting to leave the US and my life there totally behind me and not look back. Well, now I am looking back, but with an open mind and an open heart. It is strangely healing in a way and I find I am feeling a strong sense of "wholeness" that, quite frankly, I have never felt in my life except maybe when I was born, and if I did feel whole then, well, I do not consciously remember it of course!

And then right around the time of my trip, my sister Julie is due to give birth to her first child, which is a HUGE EVENT in our family since she and her husband said for years and years that they weren't having kids. Amelie and I will go to Maine and visit them afterwards, but probably not until autumn and after they settle into a routine. After Chad's mom leaves, his dad and his partner will probably come up to visit from Arizona to get a break from the searing desert heat. And I suppose my parents will probably try and visit sometime in August, so that packs our summer quite nicely!

Last weekend Amelie turned 7. She had an "almost sleepover" birthday party on Friday night. When Amelie was begging me for a sleepover party and I was repeatedly saying no, a friend made the suggestion of the "almost sleepover" which fortunately was agreeable to A. So her friends came over at 6pm in their pajamas, had dinner and played games, then watched a movie before their parents came to get them at 9pm. All the fun and no one is cranky the next day! This is not to say that it was not a freakin pain in the ass, because it was. But at least I got a good night's sleep after the fact! After the party Chad came up to me with a very serious look and said "that was the hardest thing I've had to do in a very long time". On Monday he practically did a TAP DANCE when he headed out the door for work to go and interact with ADULTS all day long.

Chad is applying for a new job. Actually he has already had all of his interviews, and now he is waiting to hear. As he has only been in current job for less than a year, it was a little controversial to apply for this position so soon. But it is a rare opportunity and one that he is well-suited to, so he couldn't pass it up. If he gets it, it means that he will move from a national role to a regional role (Pacific Northwest) and will manage a team of about 30 people. The managing aspect is what most appealed to him (that and higher pay!) most, as he is a very good mediator and communicator. We should know something by next week.

Meanwhile I am sitting my ACE exam (American Council on Exercise)in 2 weeks time and then I will be a certified Personal Trainer (again)! I will hopefully start working soon thereafter. The time I have had off has enabled me to step back and reconsider how I have been working and to evolve how I work with people. So I will be in the throes of finetuning my processes in order to (hopefully) work more wholistically and effectively- this is something I have wanted to do for a while with the knowledge that I have, but I have not had the platform to be able to do this. Now that I am working with a "clean slate", it frees me up a bit and enables me to move forward in my work. I know it probably sounds rather vague as I write it, but that's because I am still a bit vague on all the details!

Well, I think this is long enough for one entry. But it has been a while so I had a lot to say.

love you all!!! Thanks for reading. xxoo

Hello folks, we were robbed last week. Unfortunately Amelie left our back sliding door unlocked the night before it happened and well, I think I was being watched and that whoever did it knew that I come and go a lot during the day. That is the creepiest part. And it sucks feeling vunlnerable in your own home. I have even thought of buying a weapon of some sort to keep around. I hate that I even have that thought! I am trying to move beyond it but I realise that it is taking some time. I thought I could just shrug it off with the very Buddhist approach of non-attachment to my things. And "oh, they need it more than me" and "don't take it personally" and all of that. But the fact is that the bastards snuck into our home and stole our stuff. And while I CAN AND DO put it in perspective, I still feel fearful, violated, angry, and hurt. And I feel even more angry that I feel those things! And then I feel angry because I have failed at being able to forgive the thieves and even bless them and their families and move on with my life. AArrrrggghhhh- the tangled web we do weave in our own minds sometimes. But even as I am totally in the shits, here are 2 things I have learned:

1) Do not judge someone who chooses to keep a gun in their home- you don't know their story

2) The next time you see someone on the street asking for money, think to yourself, "hey, at least he's ASKING for it, he's not breaking into my home and stealing it!"

hello people here I am in the midst of buying faucets, sinks, and toilets. I bought this lovely black toilet for the powder room, now I can't wait to find some dramatic, outlandish vanity top, sink, faucet, and wallpaper to completely out fit my boudoir bathroom. Actually I'm not sure I want the "boudoir" look yet- but definitely am going for dramatic and outlandish! The powder room is my clean slate for creative expression, and I plan to abuse it. Will send pics upon completion. I found this cool wallpaper that has bare frames all over it so you can colour or paint them and put photos or whatever you want inside the frames. kinda hard to explain, let me see if I can attach the link here for you to view...this is ridiculously long...

http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=19448885&pushId=A_FURN_WALL&popId=A_DECORATE&navCount=297&navAction=push&itemCount=80&itemdescription=true&parentid=A_FURN_WALL&startValue=1&sortProperties=+subCategoryPosition,+product.marketingPriority

What do you think??? I am thinking it can be an ongoing work of art.

So I recently met this girl who sings. I met her online through the Microsoft network and she is keen to start a small group. She has lots of experience and seems that our musical interests are similar. We had dinner a couple of weeks ago and haven't spoken since. We didn't really connect so I haven't followed up & neither has she, but now I'm thinking more like "beggars can't be choosers", so maybe I should call. It is kinda weird to not be singing AT ALL for the last 8 months or so. My creative world is a desert. Hence the powder room focus.

I am (supposed to be) studying for my personal training certification exam. I keep saying today I'll start and then, well, I can't seem to do it. Yuck yuck yuck is all I can think. I do not want to sit and study at all, but I do want to work so I am in a quandry. I suppose if I go ahead and book in for an exam date then that will make me commit to some sort of study schedule so i can see it through.

One thing I AM going to do is start taking photos of all the ridiculous parking jobs I see around here. NO ONE CAN PARK, wait until you see it, I am not kidding. Admittedly the parking spaces are HUGE here, so I guess people figure there's a large margin for error. But that is no excuse to PARK DIAGONALLY across the space or to pull up halfway with the back half of the car sticking out in the road.

must go and pick up Amelie from school! She is having her friend Fran come over to play today. Fran's family just moved here from Sydney of all things! They only live across the road, what a coincidence. It is a pleasure knowing a fellow Aussie, it is reassuring to share that common ground with at least someone here. I miss you guys! Last night I was listening to Coco's lUnch cd and I got so emotional, missing choir and the Agents and my aussie life! Emotional but full of good memories that I hold close. xxoo be well, I will post some recent photos of our trip to Naples.

HEllo and a Merry new Year to all! Yes, it would seem I have been rather defunct lately as I realise my last post was in October. Alas, nothing incredibly funny has happened apart from listening to my stepfather's laugh for a week at Christmas.

We moved into our new house on Nov 13th. For some reason Chad had it in his mind that this would mean we would FINALLY feel settled and all would be well. The reality was much different- suddenly we were living amidst boxes and brown paper, miscellaneous packaging. Unpacking items and repeatedly asking ourselves "why the heck did we keep this?" or more pointedly: "WHAT IS THIS?".

When we received word that Chad's dad Lou and his partner Nancy were visiting us in 2 weeks for Thanksgiving, we went into overdrive to try and give our house some sense of order before their arrival. That impetus was a blessing since it forced us to unpack and organise rather quickly. Lou is a genius builder/engineer/handyman and so went about giving Chad a crash course in house maintainance, which I quietly watched with glee. So armed with his new knowledge, Chad went about successfully changing light fixtures around the house AND you should see his cordless drill skills! Most impressive. Now he wants to buy an electric screwdriver which is beyond me as to why they would even make such an item but apparently they are very handy soooo whatever. We seem to end up at Home Depot about 3 times a week buying various screws because apparently every job needs it's own kind of screw. I am dubious, but what do I know? Whenever we have a household job, Chad gets out the drill and I stand around nearby and hold the screws and/or other bits and pieces until I am needed. Then I go and knit.

I really do. I have recently taken up the indoor sport after reading "The Friday Night Knitting Club" which for some reason I found inspiring. Currently I am obsessed with dishcloths and am making some in the shape of hearts. They are very cute. And eco-friendly. But I digress...

We had a loooovely wintry Christmas with my mom and stepdad here for a week's visit. We decorated our house with lights and bought a 10 ft tree. Actually it was 9 1/2 but 10 ft. sounds way more impressive. It was big! It just fit in our living room. I loved it. I admired it every day, several times a day, just sitting and looking at it. We were hoping for snow but that didn't come until a few days after Christmas. We went to this town called Leavenworth about a 2 hr. drive northeast of here. Basically it was a gold-mining town and when the gold dried up, the residents of the town made a last ditch effort to save it by turning it into a traditional Bavarian village in the mountains. And they did an amazing job. Everything looks quintessential eastern European, at least to your average American it does. As I am enjoying my schnitzel, sauerkraut, pickled cabbage and potato salad, I could swear I'm in...well, Bavaria! Or Vienna or somewhere like that. It was pretty cool.

This weekend we are going skiing for our first time since moving back. And this means that I am going to attempt to teach Amelie how to ski. This is really something I'd prefer to outsource, but I figure it's also a great way to create some lasting family memories, especially if it goes well. AMelie is not exactly Miss Adventure, so I don't know how she'll take to it. Especially riding a rope tow and a chair lift! It can be a bit scary for a little kid. But If she doesn't, she'll be spending a lot of time sitting in the lodge! Chad and I are keen skier/snowboarders and we're looking forward to regular ski trips.

And while we're on the subject of skiing, We are going to Aspen next week for 4 days to see my cousin Ray. Then we are going to Naples, FL for 8 days in Feb to get a much-needed dose of sunshine! Desperate for sun. We actually bought a light box last week- or a "happy box" as I call it. It's a plug-in box that gives you rays like the sun (not the kind that tan) and you're supposed to sit in front of it for 20-30 mins a day for therapeutic benefits such as feeling normal! The dark and grey can get to you here. I'm not doing too badly with it, but Chad is finding it hard and he uses the happy box every morning. It does help.

oK, I"ll be going now. I'll try to post some photos here too. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and you received my Christmas card. Think of all my Aussie friends so often and miss you guys! Miss singing with you Agents and Lollies!

LOTS OF LOVE & BIG HUGS

OUR FIRST HOME

well, we have bought our first home! I will post photos later once I take some decent ones. The whole process was basically going back and forth with the owners to agree on a price. Or should I say, our real estate agent went back and forth on our behalf. The whole process is sooooo much more civilised here than in Australia, where you are under the pump and on show at an auction! IT's kinda weird really. And because the market is so slow here, you don't have any competition with other potential buyers. So it's very stress-free really. Just how we like it!

So now we are getting quotes for having the kitchen updated. We looked into refacing the cabinets, and after ruling that out due to cost we are going to re-paint the old oak cabinets in the hopes that they come up good. There is also some crazy vaudeville show lighting in the kitchen which needs replacing. And we're putting in quartz countertops. We are beginning to learn that you can spend a freakin FORTUNE in the kitchen! It's crazy. And since we also have a master bathroom to do we really have to limit our budget, so we're only doing what we deem to be the necessities.

So we are closing on the home on Nov 5th, and we hope to be in the house before Thanksgiving (late Nov) if all goes to plan! WE WOULD LOVE VISITORS if ever you are over this way of course.

We have recently joined an International Supper Club! This is actually the brainchild of our friends Julie & Nick, who we knew in Australia. Actually Chad worked with Julie at Microsoft in Melbourne and they just moved over here last year. Julie is from Seattle but her husband Nick is from Melbourne. Sooooo when they arrived here last year they found it very difficult to rekindle old friendships and/or make new ones. So they decided to play hosts on a regular basis and hold social events at their home, especially since they weren't getting many invites to anyone else's!. They started the supper club with 2 other couples who also enjoy international food and wine. The group gathers 6x per year to share food and wine from a designated region of the world. Last week was our first supper club (theme: Thai) and while the food and drink were great, mostly we are grateful for the opportunity to meet some new people and enjoy good conversation and of course learn more about all-things-Seattle.

We are still hiking nearly every weekend. There are so many areas to explore here and we absolutely love getting out in nature & its beauty. Now that autumn is in full swing the colours are truly spectacular here. So vibrant, some almost fluorescent if you can believe.

So Halloween is coming up next week and we are (well, me and Amelie) pretty excited about an American Halloween this year! Amelie is dressing up as an angel (nothing scary for her!) and she managed to enlist my mom to make her costume. I have already informed Chad that we are spending next Saturday night at home watching horror movies, which he is not thrilled about because of the nightmares I will have afterwards and he doesn't want to be disturbed while he's sleeping. It is weird that I want to do this sort of thing, but I just want to get in the spirit of the occasion. I had forgotten what a big deal Halloween is here. They have all kinds of haunted houses and parties you can go to here in Seattle. There are huge stores dedicated only to Halloween. It's over the top. And it's fun! There is a haunted house here that I really want to go to- it's supposed to be amazing- but Amelie is too little so we'll have to wait a few years.

That is all I can write right now. I told Chad he HAS to write a blog entry about all the crazy coffee orders he listens to while standing in line at the coffee shop every morning. It is truly ridiculous, wait til you hear it....

I will post photos soon! I hope someone is reading this! Please post a comment so I know you are...

LOVE
me

it's raining....

Hello people. I have recently had an eye-opening experience at my local grocery store which I will share with you. Firstly, grocery stores here have sprinkler systems installed in their fruit and vegetable departments. These sprinklers are timed to spray water all the produce at regular intervals- I suppose to keep everything looking "fresh" like it's just come off the farm. Can you tell I live in the rain capital of the universe???!! Aussies will be APPALLED by this
produce-sprinkler-policy. And while I do find it ridiculously water-wasteful, the most annoying part is that all my vegetables are wet when they go in the cart, hence all my groceries get wet when they go in the bags. And what about when you are in the middle of reaching for a bunch of carrots and you get doused all up and down your sleeve?! How bout a warning signal or something???
So I am in the Red Apple (my local grocery) shopping in the fruit and veg section, minding my own business when I hear a roll of thunder. That's right people- A ROLL OF THUNDER IN THE FRUIT AND VEG DEPARTMENT . Then I hear another one- no, it's not my imagination, there is thunder in the produce department. And just as I am trying to figure all of this out- the sprinklers come on! AHA! So there's the warning signal- thunder rolls before the "rain storm" . Whatever dude.

I should also mention that we have made an offer on a house! We are in the throes of negotiation with the sellers and hopefully we can come to an agreed price so we can finally have a home of our own. We are very excited! Well, I'm very excited, Chad is being more objective about the whole thing, which I figure is a good balance. So it is a 3 bedrooms/2.5 bath, one-story home on almost an acre of land which backs up to a greenbelt of pine tree forest with a creek running through it. It is in a beautiful neighbourhood and a great school that Amelie can walk to. It needs a bit of updating- mainly the kitchen and also the master bath which is crazy as it is now. The owners put in 2 master baths - a "his" and "hers"- so we want to knock out the wall between them and build one big master bath. The bones of the home are excellent so we feel we can realise it's potential.

We went to Home Depot to check out all the options for countertops, appliances, flooring, and all things DIY. Another weird thing here is that when you go to Home Depot (which is like Bunings), there are always a bunch of Mexicans hanging out somewhere in the parking lot. ALWAYS. So I finally find out what they're doing there: hoping to get work. They hang out and wait for someone who needs some work done on their house to come along and hire them for cheap labour and pay them cash so they can keep staying in the country illegally. I guess someone must hire them, but it's not going to be me. Pay your taxes like everyone else, amigos.

That's all for now! Miss you all in Oz! xoxo

amelie's first day of school

kayak trip

I have been distracted lately as we have had an influx of visitors recently. It is amazing to be able to see so many old friends now that we are all on the same continent again. Amelie is loving school and her 2 teachers (a job-sharing thing) are absolutely lovely so of course that gives Chad and I much peace of mind. I have also enrolled her in gymnastics and Mandarin lessons. And before you say " what a wanker", I will tell you that she was learning Mandarin at Elsternwick Primary and was really taking to it so I thought maybe it would be nice if she could continue it over here. so there.

I have volunteered to come into AMelie's school classroom every week to help with reading. I also, much to Chad's amusement, volunteered to help out with their computer lab once a month. Not sure how helpful I'll be, but I figure how technical can 6 year olds get on the computer? Surely I'll be able to teach them....well......how to clear your "deleted items" folder or something else that's very useful to know.

This past weekend we went on a one day kayak trip in the San Juan Islands. The goal was to be able to see some orcas, since this is where they come to hang out and feed for the summer and into early autumn. Well, I am up at 5:30am praying to the orca gods and then we drive 1 1/2 hrs northwest to Anacortes where we board the ferry and an hour-long ride to Friday Harbour where we will meet the kayak crew. It is a very foggy and rainy morning as we roll up our pants and slide our kayaks into the water. The San Juan Islands are one of the most popular weekend trips for Seattlites. They are rugged and mostly wild, forest-covered islands located just southeast of Vancouver Island. As we paddle we are greeted repeatedly by harbour seal pups which keep popping their heads out of the water every 200 feet or so. They are sooo cute! They like to check us out before bobbing back under the surface. We also see lots of porpoises, but NO ORCAS! Grrrrrrr..... I temper my disappointment with an overly enthusiastic paddling stroke which, in order to follow proper paddling instruction and much to his irritation, Chad must mimic at the rear of the boat.

Meanwhile Amelie is sitting in the middle of the kayak doing nothing. Which means being bored. Which means whining. Which is annoying and which is cutting into any possibility of having a Zen experience out here on the water. So I try to create my own inner Zen quietly up the front, which involves ignoring whining child, while I paddle through the fog. Amelie's whining becomes background noise. And after a half hour or so of practising this, I notice that she has actually stopped and is being extremely quiet. So I turn around and all I can see is a blob of a figure sitting in the middle of the kayak wearing a bright blue kayak skirt over a red lifejacket with the polkadotted arms of her parka and a patch of brown hair poking out. And I realise she has fallen sound asleep. And she (seriously) looks like the guy in the wheelchair from "A Weekend At Bernie's"- I am not kidding. I am howling with laughter over this thought. It almost makes up for not seeing any orcas.

Pumpkin spice nonfat latte

Hello folks
Today I went to my first PTA meeting. This stands for Parent Teacher Association and it's job is to oversee all events- be it social, educational, or fundraising- for the your child's school. I figure that my involvement is a good use of my spare time as it enables me to have more insight into the different programmes & opportunities at Amelie's school; and it is also an opportunity to meet other parents at the school and maybe make a few FRIENDS which would be nice.

So the first meeting is at STARBUCKS of course, it seems this is where everyone meets for anything. Truth be told I think I have been in a Starbucks once since moving here, which is an anomaly given that Seattle is the birthplace of this coffee giant and they are, quite literally, everywhere you look. Way more than McDonald's or KFC, to stress the point.

Well, I am not really a coffee drinker, but since I am here I may as well try something new. Now here is something I have come to understand, and it is the plain truth. The reason people like all those fancy syrupy sugary coffee drinks is because the coffee at Starbucks is so bad that you can't possibly order a simple latte and expect to enjoy drinking it. So I am studying the menu and I see "pumpkin spice latte" up there on the board. Now, a lot of you know how I feel about pumpkin pie and this is the image I'm getting when I see those words up there. So I have to try it of course. And because I thought that it would probably be so sweet that I couldn't possibly drink the full fat version, I order it "nonfat". "Would you like whipped cream with that?" UHHHHH, no. And I feel myself get a little twinge of excitement over ordering this crazy pumpkin spice latte and I can't wait to experience the yummy pumpkin-y, nutmeg-y, cinnamon-y flavour.

Except that it is freeeaaaakin diiiisssgussstiiiiiinng! There is no hint, no remote resemblance to pumpkin pie, or even "pumpkin spice" for that matter. I am very disappointed. AFter the meeting I go straight home and comfort myself with a mug of hot, sweet, milky tea. And that is all I have to report for today.

regarding aforementioned traffic jam...

Oh yeah! I forgot to mention at the end of my traffic jam story that we found out a week later that the traffic we sat in for hours was simply due to everyone coming home after being away for the weekend. Honestly, if that is what I have to deal with in order to enjoy a weekend away, then I am going to spend my free time getting up close and personal with my neighbourhood block.

I decided not to finish that last post as it kept getting longer and longer and I was nowhere near the end of my story! Plus I don't feel like reliving it at this point! Suffice to say that we are finally feeling settled here! Will write more shortly....

Moving in Circles

dear readers....



every time I sit down to write another post, I am overwhelmed as I don't know where to begin or how to document all the s**t that has gone down in the last 4 weeks. So I simply stare at a blank post before signing out. But I made a commitment to keep my blog up to date and so here I go....







I am trying to remember what I last told you about our housing scenario. To briefly summarise, we have just moved for the 5th time in 10 weeks. No I am not kidding. When Microsoft finished paying for our housing in mid-August, we had to find somewhere else to live. We narrowed it down to 2 apartments- one of which was a 2br,2bath and one a 2br,1bath. The 2/2 was newer and in a better location. But for some reason in which no "reason" could exist, Chad and I went with our intuition which told us to rent the 2/1 apartment which was older and further out.







Well, that's when everything (including us) started to unravel...





my parents arrive on Tuesday morning, as we have planned to drive 8 1/2 hrs to Montana for my cousin's wedding reception.





I pack up everything to move on Tuesday. We move everything on Wednesday. It takes me an hour or so in our new apartment to realise that the place is a dump, only partially disguised by the nice rental furniture that is in here. It was built in the early 70's and absolutely nothing has been done to update it since then. Keep in mind we are paying nearly $3500 per month for this crap.


By Wednesday night, surrounded by unpacked boxes and suitcases and unable to find anything that I need, I have a stunningly obvious realisation that I should never have agreed to drive to my cousin's wedding reception. El stupido. Nevertheless, On Thursday we leave first thing in the morning for Montana. My anxiety levels, already well above average, rise a couple more points. But there nothing I can do so I may as well do my best to enjoy the next incredibly hectic 4 days.





This is my first visit to Montana. My cousin lives in a small town called Kalispell. She is the consulting psychologist at an exclusive and remote academy for troubled teens. If any of you ever saw an episode of "Brat Camp", you'll know what I'm talking about. Anyway, I attended a graduation ceremony at the school and listening to the students and their family members speak of their life-changing experiences quickly dispelled any of my cynicism. It is an amazing place hidden in the Montana wilderness- if any student decides to make a break for it, they even have search & rescue dogs on the premises to hunt them down and drag them back! Apparently this does happen on occasion.



I am overwhelmed by the beauty of Montana, and upon seeing it I immediately understand why they call it "big sky country". It is vast, untamed, and majestic. My cousin lives near 2 beautiful lakes (Lake Whitefish and Lake Flathead) and only an hour or so from Glacier National Park. There is much to explore here, but we only have 4 days so I make a vow to return and stay for a couple of weeks at least.



STaying at my cousin's adorable cozy house and witnessing her incredibly grounded and well balanced life ,well, honestly makes me feel even more unsettled and ungrounded than I already am! I find myself feeling envious of the normalcy she and seemingly everyone else around me is enjoying! I know it takes time to feel settled in a new place and find your community, your niche, but I am feeling rather impatient and want it all NOW please.



on Sunday we say goodbye and pile back in the car (myself, Amelie, Dad, and stepmom Mary Ann) to return to SEattle. The drive is easy and we stop at the Dairy Queen at the halfway mark for soft-serve. Dairy Queen is one of the reasons I am so glad to be home! If there is one thing Americans know how to do really well, it is junk food. I mean it- here we have the world's best ice cream, cookies, pies, cakes, cupcakes, brownies & bars, and any other dessert you can even dream of. And Dairy Queen is THE home of the BLIZZARD. This is soft serve ice cream with any kind of cookie or candy you want mixed into it. It is freakin delicious. But I realise I am diverting sooooo....

We finish our ice creams and then about 15 mins after we get back on the highway we hit bumper to bumper traffic. "What could it be?" we wonder. Must be an accident. Someone must've broken down. Maybe road work. Hmmm, no signs. No, must be an accident. We drive. One hour. No sign of accident or broken down vehicle. Two hours. Still no sign. Three hours. OKay... so maybe it's major road work and no signs. Four hours. AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!! Four hours of bumper to bumper traffic with my Dad in the passenger seat. I am practically seeing double with angst. In a desperate attempt to calm myself I begin frantically repeating "present moment, present moment" over and over again in my head. Instead of 8 hrs it takes us 13 1/2 hrs to get home. By this time I am practically shaking.



So you know how when you've been on a road trip AND it's taken you 5 hrs longer to get home than expected AND you have your backseat-driver-Dad in the passenger seat the whole time, you really just can't wait to get home flop on the couch and relax??? Well, Chad has been away for the whole weekend with some friends, so when I get home to our new apartment, there are boxes everywhere. Nothing has been unpacked, cleaned, cleared out or put away and I can barely walk through the damn place.

3 months of amnesia

dear readers...

Currently we are enjoying the reason so many people live here: the Seattle summer.

For us, it has been the perfect introduction to a beautiful city surrounded by water, mountains, and forest. The days are long, sunny, and clear, and people stay outside until late in the day making the most of them. This beautiful season typically doesn't start until early July, but it makes up for it by stretching long into September.

We recently bought a book called "Take a Hike In Seattle". It contains information on 89 day hikes that are within 2 hrs of the city. So far we have completed 2 of them. Our goal is to do every hike in the book. Hiking in the Pacific NOrthwest is especially wonderful because of the abundance of old-growth forests, mountains, and lakes in the area. Both of the hikes we have done were very "kid-friendly", meaning that they weren't too long and not too steep. All 3 of us are enjoying getting out in nature and having it so accessible! Chad and I have a plan to climb Mt Rainier (over 14,000 ft) once we get a bit fitter! Have to do a few more hikes first. Amelie has surprised us with how she has taken to hiking. She is very interested in the different trees, plants, and flowers; and she seems to come alive as soon as we get into the forest. Yesterday we did a hike which led us to a beautiful series of waterfalls, the biggest one cascading down more than 150 feet! We found a few amazing swimming holes in the river, but it wasn't warm enough to swim that day so we bookmarked them for another time.

Someone recently told me that Seattlites enjoy 3 months of amnesia and 9 months of misery. This is regarding the famous Seattle weather patterns. Being new to the area, this is not what one wants to hear. I did not sign up for 9 months of misery. Rather, I envisioned something like a light constant drizzle that keeps my skin looking dewy and fresh; and keeps the surrounding forests and flora looking lush and green.

Apparently it is grey here from October to June, which is alarming to my ears. I have been told that I need to purchase a "lightbox". This is one of those things that you sit in front of for 15 minutes each day in order to keep from going insane while living through 9 months of misery. It gives you a certain type of light rays to lighten and brighten your mood and keep your Vitamin D levels healthy. If this is the case, then I am going to need at least 3 of them. Must go and compare prices...

Everyone is yelling

Greetings and welcome to my blog. I am an American citizen who recently returned to live in my home country after being overseas in Australia for the past 16 years. America is quite an insular country in many ways, and living outside of it gives you a fresh and insightful perspective.

I have been here less than 2 weeks and although I knew it was true, I was still unprepared for the LOUDNESS. In America, everything is loud, everyone is loud- all rise to the challenge of making sure they are heard. Everyone on TV yells, everyone on the radio yells. I can see that I need to be majorly de-sensitised, which should only take another few weeks, then I'll probably be yelling with the rest of them. Perfect.