Sweets and Jellyfish

Last week I posted on my birthday, but now I can officially report how I celebrated it! Matt and I originally planned to have a nice dinner at TGIF's but as funds are low for the time I knew that wasn't going to work out. Conveniently, my supervisor Jennifer Clarke and the others in her lab offered to take me out to lunch on my birthday. We went to a nice Italian restaurant near uni and the food was amazing!! Italian food is my favourite! I had homemade spinach and ricotta ravioli, garlic bread, and a beautiful flan for dessert. I learned that flan is called cream caramel here and this actually led to a large debate because the Aussie's claimed cream caramel is not the same as flan. Having tasted it I would say there is no difference, but the only French girl in the lab later confirmed via the web it is definitely the same thing.

In the evening Matt and I went rock-climbing at a really small local place called the Bloc. We learned it's not a big rope-climbing place but focuses more on building skill and strength with bouldering. I've never been as big in bouldering because I burn out fast. Also, I love climbing not necessarily for the challenge but to get the top which is not really the purpose of bouldering. The rating system is different too and I felt so weak when I could only complete a route on the lowest level - number 1. My hands hurt a lot at the end, but I'm looking forward to future visits to improve my skills.

To top off the night we watched the movie Red 2. Sometime during the movie our cat shade suddenly perked up and headed toward the door. Not too long after we had a knock on the door and found a surprise birthday cake on our front doorstep! I was sad I didn't get up with the cat and catch the mysterious cake givers in the act, but I later had confirmed suspicions it was Brock and Kaytlin! It was a great day!

I originally figured I wouldn't get a cake for my birthday so I had already made plans to make cinnamon rolls. I have officially decided I am getting a lot better at making homemade cinnamon rolls! Not quite Cinnabon style but each time the dough is getting better.

The day after my birthday I went to meet with the Young Women presidency to make gratitude jars as examples for the young women the next week. It later turned into more of a fun chat between girls. To my surprise Cate had also gotten me a cake! Normally I don't really like cake but the two chocolate cakes I had for my birthday were really good!

Matt surprised me Friday night by bringing home huge rolls of carpet from work. It's brand new carpet that was going to be tossed! So we spent Saturday morning cleaning and cutting the carpet to fit our dining room. It feels so weird to walk on nice normal carpet where I'm used to walking on our pink disgusting carpet! Matt is also planning on using some large tubes from work and leftover carpet to build something really fun for the cat so stay tuned for updates on that!

We also were able to enjoy the weekend with some Super Smash Bros Brawl and movies. We've now unlocked all the characters in the game! Matt's now discovered even more fun things to do in the game. I am thinking that we will eventually have to buy our own game since this is the Butler's game with their Wii. As for movies we have watched The Lovely Bones which we both hated in the end (long story) and Kon Tiki. A long time ago my mom advised I read Kon Tiki and I loved the story of how just a handful of guys sailed across the ocean on a handmade raft! I definitely would recommend the book and the movie!

Australia day was this last Sunday which is basically the Australia equivalent of Independence Day in the US. For the first time ever I participated in singing the national anthem here titled Advance Australia Fair! As for any other traditions I don't really know, but I am told that it is a popular day for some serious drinking.

Since the Monday after Australia day is still a public holiday, Matt didn't have to work and I had plans to do an early morning hike with the Young Women. Unfortunately, the hike was cancelled but instead Cate, Racheal and I decided to organise the YW cupboard. It was crazy some of the stuff we found in there such as picture frames that looked from the 70's and tons of posters where most were duplicates. It was fun just to talk and make things look better.

Cate said she was going to Manly beach later with her friend Mariella. I asked Matt if he wanted to go but he wasn't too interested in join anywhere and he would be the only boy. In the end it became just a girl's day out at the beach with Cate, Mariella, Kaytlin and I.

The weather was beautiful and the water was great. My only issue was that the water was really dirty from all the storms we've had recently. Kaytlin was saying how she was glad there weren't any blue bottle jellyfish around. Surprisingly my biggest fear of getting in the ocean in Australia is not sharks, but jellyfish.

As Kaytlin and I went back to the water for a second dip in the water they announced over the speaker that some people had been stung by blue bottles and were advising if you get stung there is no immediate cure so to just remove the tentacles and wash with fresh water. I wasn't too worried since we were going into the main swimming area with loads of people. As Kaytlin and I got  about hip length in the water I felt something really itchy on my leg that began to sting. I eventually pulled my leg out and saw blue stringy things around my left leg! Naturally, swimming time was over and I walked out of the water and the rest of the strings had come off in the process. While walking back to our stuff we saw three blue bottles just lying on the beach. After washing it off it was still stinging pretty bad and eventually I got little puffy dots where the strings had been wrapped around. About an hour later the stinging had subsided and overall I decided it wasn't so bad. They made several announcements that there were at least 50-70 blue bottles just on the beach and if you didn't want to get stung you shouldn't be in the water. My favourite was when they said if you didn't want your kid screaming for the rest of the day from the pain then you shouldn't let them in the water! In the end it wasn't quite as bad as a bee sting or even a mosquito bite because those throb and itch whereas stinging pain you can just wait it out.

Cate, Katelyn and I

Mariella, Cate, and Katelyn

The puffy spots from the jellyfish sting on my leg

Other pain soon showed up from the beach trip. All of the girls had gotten burned even though they regularly reapplied sunscreen. I didn't feel burned at all but after I got home and had taken a shower the truth came out. My back was badly burned along with parts of my legs and my face. Katelyn and Brock came over for FHE later and I was lathered in Aloe Vera and I let her borrow my solarcaine for the very severe and painful burns.

Matt and I finished off the Australia day weekend with a classic Australia movie called The Castle. It has a lot of swearing unfortunately, but it's just a fun David and Goliath kind of movie that I saw years ago when I first came to Australia. It's been a wonderful week!

Rising and Falling

What goes up must come down right? Well this last week has had some good things and then some surprising news.


Last week we had a great FHE with Brock and Kaytlin. Brock was excited because he won the game Zigity and in the past he hasn't had too much success with the games we've played. This week they both killed Matt and I at Sequence so I think it's safe to say Brock's losing streak is over!

On Sunday I spoke to the missionaries and asked what they had planned for their p-day. I was surprised to hear they had no plans because on my mission sometimes p-day activities were all I had to look forward to. So I invited them all to come to our house for games. I made a huge list of tons of games you can play with a lot of people for free and helped give them ideas for future ideas. Then we played telephone pictionary (click here for rules) which turned out so well!

Not too long after all 9 missionaries left to get to work I had the Young Women in the ward over for a movie night! Since the girl's struggled to decide on a movie I picked my favourite - Everything You Want. It was a great and busy day!

Over the last week I had a couple of meetings for Young Women's. I'm so excited to be working with these girls and the other leaders Cate Lynch and Racheal Laugery! Our first meeting as a presidency was great and I was positive Cate is very inspired since when we went to the Stake meeting later some of the things they suggested we were already doing.

Matt and I also have enjoyed watching some movies including Warm Bodies and Red Dawn, but my recent new favourite is Cake Boss. I've watched so many episodes that even though I don't like cake, Matt and I are both interested in trying a Carlo's Bakery cake some day. I think sometime I'd like to try and make a nice professional cake too.

Some really great things that happened this last week is that Matt finished building the stand for our new air conditioner! Finally we have a nice working air conditioner to keep our bedroom cool so we can actually sleep at night.

Also, I have great school news! Firstly, my financial aid has been processed and I will be getting my loan money soon. Secondly, I met with the tiger keepers at Taronga Zoo with my supervisor yesterday and we are going to start my research project as soon as the final paperwork is done! They have a great set up to do audio and video recordings. It was so cool to be so close to them, although unfortunately one of the tigers suddenly was really anxious and started running toward the bars where we were and full on did an aggressive roar. We're not really sure what set him off, but he seemed to be targeting the one male of our group and the zoo doesn't have any male keepers. Unfortunately this made the keepers more nervous about having us in that same area again so we'll see what will happen.

Some other great stuff is I've heard from my sister on her mission and she is loving it! She just left to Dallas, Texas and I'm so excited for her!

With all good news there seems to come bad news. Unfortunately I am getting less financial aid than I was originally offered because they didn't account for my scholarship money. That same day Matt came home and let me know that his boss said that as soon as this last big job is done that he will need to find another job. I know Matt is a very high quality painter, but apparently his boss would prefer him to sacrifice more of his quality for speed. For someone who has done very fast and high quality work for over 12 years it's not so easy to start lowering standards. We hope this will be a blessing in the end, but as Matt hasn't been paid yet we are running rather thin. We're praying he will be able to find another painter than can appreciate his high quality work and pay him what he's worth.

Oh and I guess I should mention today is my birthday....happy 28th birthday to me! Money is tight at the moment so maybe I'll celebrate later. Have a great week!

Breaking in the New Year

My favourite thing about the new year is the feeling of starting anew. I make goals all the time throughout the year, but at the beginning of the year is where I really assess if I met last years goals and make new ones for this year. 

I managed to get Matt to sit down with me and we made long lists of goals for the new year. At first the list seems very long, but we started the year by picking just one item on the list to work on per week. The next step is actually working on that goal, which through the use of phone reminders and a nifty goal app called strides (click to see iTunes app) I can remind myself to do things as well as track my progress each day. I truly believe anyone can achieve their goals if they make a plan and find ones to help motivate them to keep at it! 

Besides making goals, Matt and I had a good New Years week because Matt didn't work the day before or after new years. 

New Years we went to our friend's Gideon and Clarissa's party at their family's house complete with pool and BBQ. We went together with Brock and Kaytlin and played in the pool, ate some good food,   played games, and of course watched the amazing Sydney firework show on TV. 

I learned that besides the heat in December, there are other New Year's differences from the US. Unfortunately you can't buy your own fireworks here so you don't see mini firework shows on the street. Of course there are still those daring people breaking the law and doing their own show at home. The upside of this is that the city firework shows are bigger and better!

Gideon and Clarissa Watts

Kaytlin and I

Matt and I took advantage of his day off and decided to go to Terrigal beach up north. There is nothing so relaxing as being able to do swim and body surf in the ocean and then dry off in the warm sun. It turned out to be a beautiful day for it!

Now that the new year has begun I am supposed to be working on my Master's work again! Unfortunately I do not have tigers to study yet! Dreamworld said they won't be able to participate at this time, and the other sites haven't responded. So right now I'm basically waiting and hoping this all gets sorted soon. I need to have this sorted before I can be enrolled which may effect my financial aid and scholarship. Not to mention I need to get an ethics application in by Jan. 28 but I can't do that if I don't know where I am studying the animals! 

In the meantime I have been finding time to watch recent movies like Frozen and the Hobbit! Frozen is amazing (see my favourite song below), but the Hobbit is somewhat unsatisfying because it is the middle of the movie series and there is no real end. 

Additionally I was able to find e-books for the Tiger Saga series by Colleen Houck that I started months ago. If you recall, I read the first book but the library didn't have the second. So I have now finished the series! I loved them! Although the love triangle drove me crazy for a long time. Poor Matt dealt with a lot of me ranting about the books. I was so aggravated that the last book I spent all of one day reading to finish it. Can't wait to start some new series!

Other than that, we are just going about doing our daily stuff! It's going to be an interesting and exciting new year!