Project List

Hello once again my dearest loved ones!!

I realize that I've been MIA for quite some time now from my bloggyblogblog...and won't even TRY to catch you up on my day to day happenings. So instead I thought I would give you a bulleted list of projects I'm working on (note: the term "project" in my own personal dictionary, as you will come to find out, can entail anything from the literal - something tangible I'm working on - to the abstract - something I did once and enjoyed).

• For my birthday I got: lots of really bright new clothing, a compost bin, herbs and a half-wine barrel to plant them in.
• My latest physical project has been to turn the box our fridge came in into a star box (idea taken from Susan Moster who made one for her pre-school class). I painted the inside black and the outside blue with yellow stars and poked holes, so when you lie inside the box it looks like your looking at a sky full of stars :o) Which leads me to the following observation: WHO gets equally excited about a star box ... and a compost bin?! HA
• Today I went to a cafe down the road from our house called Shivers. I had a yummy coffee and yummy bruschetta sitting outside under a big tree, with a big bird cage of happily tweeting birds next to me. It was very nice...but makes me a little sad too because it is a neat space that could be SO much better. Sitting there I got such a strong desire to own this cafe and take care of it so it could reach it's full potential that (to me) is so frickin obvious but just needs some TLC! One day perhaps...
• Our house now has 6 people in it (in case you hadn't heard) and I love having all these people around! Every meal is like making plans to have dinner with friends...except you don't have to call any one or make any plans because you're all here anyhow! I must admit it does get a little lonely with all 5 of them working at the winery together and little ol' me just working at the pub by myself. I do feel a little left out occasionally, but that feeling only lasts for a little while until I feel included again. And this week they worked 65 hours....and that's a slow week! Pretty soon they'll start working 80 hours, and then they'll all work on the night shift for 1 month...so I think I'll get plenty of my "projects" done.
• A few nights ago at work I was serving this couple when I noticed they didn't have Australian accents....as it turns out they are from Toronto and moved out here to work at a winery, intending to stay only for 3 months...and that was 3 years ago. AND they literally live 10 houses down the road from me! Hooray for new friends.
• Oh! I bought a wedding dress! Jen and I had an absolutely surreal day. Partially because I was fully prepared to spend all day going from store to store, and never really finding one I loved. But after going to 3 stores and trying on 4 dresses...we were done (okay, so we were technically done after the 2nd dress, but I tried on the next 2 just to be sure)! And I totally got the goose-bump teary-eyed feeling I was hoping for. AND when we went back to try it on again so Stephi could see it, the dress I tried on had been sold! Meaning that if we had gotten to that store just a little later I wouldn't have even seen it! AND the store I bought it from used to be called Toff's! AND...I don't really have anymore "and's" but if you want to see it shoot me an email :-)
• Every now and then, I gaze around at my surroundings, and get this almost awe-struck feeling, and think about how funny it is that I am living in Australia. I'll give you an example: Driving home from work the other day, in Van Morrison...aka a manual vehicle on the WRONG side of the road...during the beginnings of what looks like it's going to be an amazing sunset...I just smiled to myself and thought, "Now...you never thought you would be doing THIS now did you????" At those moments I can't help but look at my life and feel pretty happy.
• We had a house warming bbq yesterday. And Rosie and I made so many salads I think we'll be eating them for the rest of the week :) Most of the people who came work at the winery. A few of Toff's friends from back in the high school days came, and Jen stopped by for a bit, played some ping pong and dropped off a casserole for us and a new blue leather wallet for me (I am beginning to suspect that she is trying to help me not miss home by showering me with presents....)

All right, that's all my news for now! I hope to be doing this a lot more often now...so drop by frequently :-)

Peace and Love!

Bean