Inspired

Yessssss! I did it. I actually booked myself on a six-week art course at The Sydney Art School. It starts in November and I cannot wait. I really am so excited that I've talked about nothing else since I booked it yesterday - poor Phil. It's a very basic painting course where I'll learn the basics of tone, shape, colour mixing and these are all of things that I should know and I'll still end up with a finished piece at the end of it. Once I've finished this course, if I want to continue, I can book the same course again and build on what I've already learnt or try a new course at a different centre. This particular course gets filled quickly by returning students and the tutor's speciality is acrylic. She also has a masters degree in teaching art to adults so I have a very good feeling about this.

Whilst I was looking into the courses I also found a creative writing course. I might look at joining that next term although I'm not sure what I'd be working towards. I'm not sure that I have any aspirations of becoming the next best-selling author so I guess it would just be for fun. Either way, I'm definitely going to look into it.

I've been so inspired by this new enthusiasm that I'm going to practice the Uke over the weekend. Maybe when I'm feeling confident enough I'll post something on here but that might be pushing my comfort levels a little bit too far.

In other news, Phil and I went to the Noodle Market at Hyde Park last night which is part of Sydney's Food Festival. There were at least 50 different stalls selling asian food. We walked around until we found somewhere that did satay chicken (my choice) and got a mixed starter each. Unfortunately, once we'd eaten that we were stuffed and didn't get to try anything else. It's on a few more times over the next couple of weeks so we'll go back a couple of times I think. 

That's all for now. Back soon x

Art Projects

I thought I'd post my paintings on here since I just mentioned them on my last post. I'd never painted before apart from in school and to learn how to use a medium like acrylic is harder than I thought. I was thinking about taking some evening classes to learn some of the basic techniques and in fact, I might look into that right now. We should be heading into a new term in a couple of months so maybe now is the time to sign up. Now I'm feeling inspired!

Port Stephens - the view from our cottage on the beach

Sunset Tree Silhouette

Frangipani

Kangaroo Silhouette

The Hawaiian Islands - we went there on our honeymoon and we swam with wild turtles

The Justice League - a painting I did for Phil's birthday

Lame-O

I recently remembered what one of my biggest problems is; I start something enthusiastically but then my interest wains and I don't bother to do it anymore. Case in point, my blog. I also started painting, learnt the basics of the ukelele (or ukulele if you are from anywhere other than the UK) and I might as well add the gym to this list - many times. The stupid thing is, I'm good at these things so why don't I keep them up? I think it can be attributed to one of two things. Number one, I want to see if I can do it and once I know I can, I lose interested. Number two, I'm a wee bit lazy. No prizes for guessing which is correct*.

We've been in Australia for 9 months now and whilst I miss family and friends, I never have instances where I wish I was back home. I think it's because we know we are here for a short time - four years really isn't that long - and life will be waiting for us when we eventually get back. At the moment, I'm happy just plodding along, enjoying each day.

There is so much going on in Sydney at any one time. Over the next 2 months we've got open-air jazz concerts, The Blue Planet Live at the Sydney Opera House, a short stay in Hunter Valley wine region for our anniversary and of course, in between all of these things, we'll be going out for dinner, drinks and to the cinema with friends.

It's just starting to get warm again in Sydney, although it never really got cold. It's anything between 23 and 31 degrees at the moment and we are only just coming into Spring. Soon enough we'll be heading down to the beach most weekends and Phil will be surfing in his new wetsuit.

For now, I might blow the dust off my Uke and play a couple of songs. Until next time... x







*Yes I know Phil, it's number two, now pipe down because you also fit into this category.

Port Stephens Trip - 8th May 2012

Phil and I went away last weekend to Port Stephens on holiday which is a little surreal since we feel like we've been on holiday since January. Port Stephens is about 2 and a half hours drive North of Sydney and it is such a beautiful place surrounded by beaches. We stayed at Soldiers Point in a small cottage right on the beach. The view of the sea and the distant islands was just perfect and it was so relaxing to sit and listen to the waves lapping rushing onto the beach. 

We hired a car to get us up there and so we could check out the entire place and instead of planning what to do each day, we drove around, found something we liked and just stopped. It made a nice change to just do things on the spur of the moment and we actually found some brilliant things to do. We found a place where you could get into tanks with sharks and stingrays and we fed them squid and prawns. I freaked out a few times as I'm not a big lover of fish but it was fun and I'm glad I gave it a go. We went to a golf place that had putt putt golf and baseball batting cages. Phil beat me at the golf (by one point although I did get a hole-in-one which I believe makes me the real winner) and I got smacked in the hand by a 40mph ball in the batting cage. I was really lucky to not have broken my hand and I have a large and very sore bruise.

Phil had a couple of surfing lessons and he is doing really well. I got a couple of videos of him on the board and a few pictures so we have the proof :) We saw a koala on Eucalyptus Road which leads up to One Mile Beach where Phil had his first surfing lesson. We're really glad that we saw one as they are quite difficult to spot. They don't move very much and they camouflage into the trees quite well.

My Dad is coming over to visit in a couple of days and I can't wait!! Oh, and did I mention that it is my 30th birthday on Saturday? Check back for stories of birthday antics x

Double 18 Birthday for Phil - 18th April 2012

I haven't posted for a really long time, I'm sorry about that. I've been trying so many different things lately that the blog seems to have taken a back seat. The thing is, it's important for me to keep this up as when I look back on it in years to come, I'll be able to remember our time in Sydney in more detail than if I was to just try to sift through my memories. To quote many a school report, "must try harder."

It was Phil's birthday a couple of weeks ago. In fact, it landed on the Easter weekend so we had four days of birthday celebrations and the weather was glorious. We ate lots, drank too much and by the end of it I felt like I'd been on holiday and was ready to go back home for a rest and to fall back into my usual routines. I bought him a few presents - chocolate covered strawberries, a book that he wanted (plus two that he already had, oops!) and I also painted him a picture of the Justice League.

It's the third picture I've painted since I started a month ago and despite the fact that I'm a perfectionist, overly critical of everything I do and can find a million things I'm not happy with, it actually turned out ok. I also made him a Mojito cake. Phil loves rum and he also loves cake so a Mojito cake was just perfect. I made a white sponge, admittedly from a packet - I'm a busy girl don't you know, I poked the whole thing with a fork and then poured over a rum, sugar and water glaze that I'd boiled for about 3 minutes. Once it had cooled I whipped some cream with a bit of rum in it and served it with some lime zest sprinkled over it and a sprig of mint. It was so delicious!!

The cake stayed really moist for the three days it took Phil to eat the whole thing because of the lovely glaze.

I'll post again soon x

Our Fantastic Weekend - 29th February 2012

Hi All,

So I wanted to blog about the brilliant weekend that Phil and I just had. We have loads of fantastic experiences over here and we never seem to be short of things to do which is quite different to when we were back home.

On Friday night we made Steak and potato wedges - this part of the weekend wasn't so great as it resulted in me having a really deep cut at the top of my thumb. Lots of blood! Phil took an emergency trip to the chemist on the corner of the street and luckily we didn't have to do a trip to the hospital. Almost an hour after the incident and some butterfly stitches later and the crisis was over. Phew!

We got up early and went to Dee Why beach on Saturday which is in the North of Sydney. Phil tried surfing for the first time and managed to stand up on his third wave, despite the fact that he had a terrible foam board which he hired from a place just off the beach. He was having a whale of a time and I was pretty jealous sat on the sand with my bandaged thumb. I'll be good to try some paddle boarding or something in a couple of weeks though. The sea is much cleaner over here but still too dirty to go in if you have a cut. Plus, I might have attracted the sharks!! :o)

 Da da da daa daaaa daaaaaaa, da da da daa daaaaaaa.

 Sore thumbs up

Body surfing

After the beach we got the ferry back to Circular Quay (next to the Opera House) and headed to Hyde Park for the Cellar Door wine tasting festival. We tried wines from Hunter Valley, Orange County, Canberra and a couple of other places and they were all pretty amazing. Phil was "exceedingly" happy and relaxed, even though he had sunburn on his nose and his cheeks. 8 weeks in and he got his first sunburn. Not bad. We came back to the apartment and had burritos from the local mexican place with a few (ok, more than a few) glasses of lovely wine.

When Sunday came we went to see Soul II Soul at a club called Ivy. It was an amazing venue. We looked at the cocktail list and were dying to try them since they all looked impressive. I was intrigued by a cocktail that said it came in a white paper bag. I was bemused when it arrived and it was literally a beer glass inside a white paper bag - the kind that you used to get a 10p mix in. Whatever, the cocktail was delicious. Yum. We got a taxi home since it we were both a little drunk.

Unfortunately, the amount of alcohol we drank didn't bode well for my first day at my new job on Monday but I managed to get through it with a lovely cold bottle of Sprite. Thank goodness for Sprite!

Roll on next weekend!!

I'm Online!!!! 23rd February 2012

It's been a really long time since I've blogged but I'm happy to advise that Phil and I now have the internets at home so I'm actually online - woohooo!

So much has happened since I last blogged. I worked for 3 weeks with CBRE and then started working as an Office Manager for a small plumbing company. Both companies have asked me to work for them again so I'm doing 4 weeks with CBRE and then 6 months with the plumbing company. I've been so lucky.

Phil was advised that after working for 4 weeks at his new company, they would be signing off his 3 month probation period as they were happy with how he fits with the company and how well he is doing. Amazing news and definitely a confidence booster. He's had loads of good comments so I'm really proud of him.

The flat is starting to feel a bit more homely now that we've been there for 6 weeks. We've pretty much got everything we need so it looks like we won't be shipping the majority of the things that we planned on having sent over. Out of the 8 boxes and 4 cases I think we can get it down to 4 boxes plus Phil's bike. We don't really have the space for much anyway so it's seems pointless to get it all sent over.

Mardi Gras is coming up and since we are living in the middle of the gay district it's guaranteed to get wild. The town that we live in - Surry Hills - is really lovely. There are so many good places to eat, the streets are clean and the library is great. It's so nice to be able to walk into the city centre each day for work.

We took the bus to Bondi on Friday night to watch Sherlock Holmes 2 at the open air cinema. Armed with the trusty hip-flask, a couple of plastic cups and some Pepsi Max, we had a great time. On Sunday we went to Manly Beach and then went to The Domain, which is the main park for shows and festivals, to see Tropfest - Sydney's short film festival. The judges, along with a few others, were Geoffrey Rush, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette (you're terrible Muriel!) and Nicole Kidman. Unfortunately, half way through, the heavens opened and we were "treated" to an amazing lightning show. We ended putting holes in the bin bags that they give out for rubbish, wearing them and walking home early.

That's all for now. I'll be blogging again very soon, loads to catch up on x