Bad at this...

Ok, so we all know by now - I'm bad at this...

I'm bad at keeping up with blogging, and I'm bad with reading other people's blogs that I really like to catch up on...

I have excuses - lots of them; I hadn't been around for so long, I wanted to reformat the blog and have had a 'reason' to have been away, and one to be back with a whole brand new look...
I have had some up's and down's - as in up's and really downs - and I feel like no one wants to know or read about things that I would write while I'm feeling crappy...
Or I felt like I had nothing interesting to say - nothing going on in my head that anyone would want to read...

Anyway, I'm here now - back - for the moment anyway...  Nothing interesting to say for right now, I will share some of my crafty stuff soon...  And some photos - I have a new 'do' that I got tonight, so will take a photo that's not an end of day worn out looking one - soon, maybe tomorrow morning...

So, that's all for now - I'm back, I'll write some short ramblings, I'll share some stuff - and the new look for the blog, I'll sort it - sometime soon-ish, I hope - when I can work out more about what I need to do, or at least be motivated enough to spend some time - perhaps hours on the computer in a setting outside of work to see how to do what I want...

Thanks, if you're still here - or back with me, along for the ride - I promise I'll try to be better...

I'm back...

Sorry all to have been absent for so long...

I recently had a reader ask what had happened since October and I was coming home.  Well... quite a bit actually:

• I was home on my own (without SO) for 5-ish weeks looking for apartments and getting settled into the my new role back in Melbourne...
• SO came home and (of course) the first apartment on the first day he came out looking with me was the one for us (and now we're living there)
• We had a weekend trip up to see SO's parents the weekend after we moved into the new apartment, during which something blocking the drain on the balcony on the level above us got blocked and caused a leak through the ceiling in our living room (which, by the way is still not fixed since the second weekend in December) :(
• We finished up work mid December and had a 6 week break (kind of pay back from so much time overseas) during which we had Christmas in Melbourne for the first time in 3 years, had 3.5 weeks in the Cook Islands and a little time around the new apartment for unpacking...
• A couple of days after we arrived on the Cook Islands we had a phone call from the Property Manager who looks after our apartment to say that the vanity (the thing around the sink) in the bathroom had fallen off the wall and caused a flood through the apartment...
  Lucky for us, my mum had the keys to the apartment and came and not only checked things out for us, saved some of our belongings (including my macbook - part of the reason I've been absent for so long - the water damage had to be sorted out) and tidied up some for us before we arrived home
  The whole apartment has floating floorboards - which, I guess were literally floating for some time there - which are now all warped and buckled and we're having to high-step over the remaining waves in them :(  Oh, and the vanity is still not back on the wall...
• Apart from being frustrated by the lack of action by the real estate agent and landlord we're settled back in Melbourne, enjoying catching up with friends and family, and back at work waiting to see what the new year holds there...

I'll be back over the next - I'd like to say days, but it'll probably be a bit more like a couple of weeks at least - and expand on some of the points here and pop in links as I go so if you come to this update later you can find them easily enough...

Thanks for dropping back in for a read!

Heading home...

I'm sorry all - I'm not sure why the post has all run together, I had to type it in the notes app on my iPad on the plane, and now it doesn't seem to matter what I do I can't get any line separation in there.. Although it looks fine in the editing screen :( And so, that's it - I've finished my time in Stockholm and am heading home... Happy in a lot of ways to have the freedom to see friends and family on a more regular basis, to be going home to look for a new apartment for SO and myself, to be heading into a different role at work. And sad in a lot of ways, friendships have developed - between the people from my company on the team, and from the client company.  It has been an intense work environment - for a fairly extended period of time, and intense environments fuel things in ways that they wouldn't be if things weren't so intense... I look forward to SO's return to Melbourne, we don't yet have a date for that beyond - about a month... And to my colleagues in the team from within my business.  It's sad to have left them behind (for clearly different reasons) but I know they are people that I will always have in my life. I'm sad that for the most part I may never see some of the people I met on the client side again. Over such a long period of time, working so closely with people it's impossible not to have formed some bond with them and they are people I'll happily call my friends... But, they will be friends from afar- and as I say, many of them I won't see again in person... That's quite sad - I hope that some of them (at least) will keep in contact over email, skype and Facebook- even more I hope that we eventually get to see some of them head to Oz for a visit. There are lots of things I'll miss about living in Europe - the ability to decide at the last minute to head off somewhere cool for the weekend - not exactly an easy thing to do from Melbourne.. The suburb where we lived - colorful and comfortable and always lively, the sights on the way to and from work in the morning - crossing the bridge from our island to the next on the way into town. Seems very strange that after living in a country where English is not the first language to be heading back to a place where I'll understand most of the conversations going on around me - without having to know the context and concentrate so hard! Sirens will sound different - strange but true, ambulances and police cars sound different!  And obviously I'll miss SO - until he heads home.  It's strange for us to be apart for any length of time - the last two years or so we spent almost 6 months traveling in South America, together all but one night of that time, some time not working and setting up the apartment in Melbourne, then about 2 months working for separate companies, before heading off traveling for another month... Of course, that changed a litle and it has ended up being 15 odd months - all of that time working together, some of it sitting next to each other, and all but about 2 weeks (when I went back to Melbourne to pack up the apartment) together... Some time apart certainly won't do us any harm, and it might actually do us some good - but it's strange not have him by my side, especially at times like now - in a plane on my way somewhere.. So much of our time together we've been traveling it feel very weird to head through security and out the other side without the camaraderie and surprise of what this security detail in this country feels is important, sitting waiting at the gate people watching or reading something, airport food and the actual being on the plane - especially for such a long flight, it just feels weird.. I guess it's a feeling that I'll just have to live with for a while - while I console myself with the warmth of friends and family and hopefully finding us a new home..

Amazing Days

For our 2nd prompt Shimelle asked us to think about the amazing days of our lives, and prompt 3 talks about lists (I'm sorry but there are many more than 5!)...

I have had so very many in the last 18 months or so that it's difficult to choose:

The day at Iguazu Falls in Argentina:

The day at Perito Merino Glacier in Argentina:

The days of trekking the Inca Trail in Peru and arriving at Machu Picchu:

 

The day we went parasailing over the Sacred Valley (very amazing for 2 so scared of heights!):

The day we went white water rafting - no photos from this day!!

The days on our cruise around the Galapagos Islands and being so close to the wildlife:

Our night out in Paris for my birthday:

Getting to see London and Stonehenge:

Having the opportunity to live an work in a foreign city (with snow!):

More recently though my amazing days were spent doing things like:

Meeting a girlfriend's (not so) new baby and spending time with her and her other son:

Dinner with family and friends:

  

Catching up with friends and family in Mildura:

A concert with mum:

Playing in the sunshine in the park after a haircut:

Coming home to SO:

Hmmm, I guess there'll have to be more on all of the above sometime (soon-ish!).