Four months...

since my last post...I'm officially IN Australia, and have been since July-that for another blog. At the moment, I'm also officially SICK. The nasty pneumonia I spent five weeks getting over in January/February has decided to sneak up on me and hit full force this weekend. I cannot breathe, and I think that's a problem.

However, I am having a happy moment-I just looked at a few blogs ago, and I noticed a happy list (we know how much I love my lists)...and I was pleasantly aware that all those things on the list STILL give me a warm fuzzy. So at the risk of being redundant, I'm listing them again:

Starbucks Dark Cherry Mocha Latte (which I cannot get here, btw)
The Young Victoria, with Emily Blunt
Twitter
Aquabumps photos of Bondi Beach
As Time Goes By, with Geoffrey Palmer and Dame Judi Dench
Lilly Pulitzer (in moderation)
Ralph Lauren-without moderation (NY fashion week just ended, and the spring line is to die for...)
Paris (and Parisians, too..)
Atomic Ranch magazine
Tyler Florence
Jacques Pepin

I miss several of these things. Maybe when I feel better, I will start populating a list of things I love in Australia.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my amazing mom-one of the few truly great people I know. She's my best friend, my confidant, my advisor, my mentor... I've lost my superlatives. I hope she knows how much she is loved. If you're a mom, happy day to you, too! I got a Tweet today that sums up my own feelings: Looking forward to joining your ultra-cool club someday!

Rantishness

I've been terribly deficient in blogging lately. Indeed, I ought to be writing overdue papers for a grad class I loathe, even as I write this. Oh well...

I'm alternately ready and terrified of not being ready to go to Australia these days. Ready to LEAVE Northern Virginia forever-to shake off this horrid red clay, and move on with life. Not ready from the perspective that I have SO freaking much to do before I go...Not to mention money to save...Ack (my latest expletive).

I'm sitting in my Starbucks-it really IS mine, too...complete with my Starbucksbaristafriends Tyler, Brandon, Kyle, Kurt, Tony and Brooke. They call me by name, they give me just about every other drink, and they greet me effusively and send me off (somewhat pathetically) with a heartfelt "See you tomorrow!" Living at DeAnna's has beenl ovely-no rent to pay has been LOVELY, but Linda (the other "tenant") is just plumb crazy, and DeAnna is sweet, but high-stress. I've adopted Starbucks as my home away from home this year...

Speaking of home, I miss my family is a ridiculous way. Perhaps it's because I know that they will be almost entirely out of reach for 24 months, and that any in-touch-ness I will have will be dependent upon their sporadic (at best) communication. Well, at least my sister's. Bless her-Angie has SO much in her life, I don't blame her too much for not staying in touch better, but it IS hard sometimes, especially because I know that the kids are growing like weeds and I'm missing out on major milestones pretty much daily. Ack again, I say. And mom is having fits about my going-oh, she wants me to, but is terrified for me. All of which does NOT make it any easier.

Then there's school...trying-I really AM!-to finish well, but at the moment, I feel like I am failing epically. Oh, and then there's the HUGE disappointment of Joel Houston coming to New York City to start the new Hillsong church just as I leave for Sydney. There goes both my cool guitar guy AND my idea of catching his vision. Crap. Not that he IS my guitar guy. But still. :P

Oh, I'm PMS-ing, can you tell? I'm just stressed (grad class isn't helping) and crabby. Poop. I need to end this post-AND this day...a testament to the day's productivity: I took about a dozen Facebook quizzes which informed me of everything from what kind of Southern Gal I was to Which Disney Princess I am...

I need to end with a list of some happy things...Or else I'll explode in a sea of hatefulness. So, in no particular order:

Starbucks Dark Cherry Mocha Latte
The Young Victoria, with Emily Blunt
Twitter
Aquabumps photos of Bondi Beach
As Time Goes By, with Geoffrey Palmer and Dame Judi Dench
Lilly Pulitzer (in moderation)
Ralph Lauren-without moderation
Paris
Atomic Ranch magazine
Tyler Florence
Jacques Pepin


That's all for now. I feel better.

Snow Day

We are having a proper winter here in NoVA this year...The snow days have come fast and furious, and often in a very timely manner. Luckily, I can mostly get out of the house, because for the last few days, DeAnna's other transient boarder (:P) has been driving me a bit nuts. Linda has decided this week, not sure why, that she needs to order me around, and tell me that everything I do is wrong. To add insult to injury, she does it at the top of her voice-which is loud at normal volume-and will not be reasonably responded to...consequently, my best option is to leave the house as much as possible-which is, I think, at least partly her goal. Not entirely sure how to best handle this; just praying for grace.

In other news, I'm immensely behind on my grading-thankful for a snow day to catch up...now if only I do! As for Paris, Liz and I are GOING!! We are staying in a very modest hotel, in the 10th arrondissement, which has been described online as "gritty", "on the edge of urban renewal, but not quite making it", "bohemian", and " a safe enough place, but not recommended to walk alone after dark"...sounds great, huh? Well, who cares-it's Paris! We will be within walking distance of almost all major sights to see. My heart and soul wants to visit the Louvre, Versailles, the Champs-Elysees, and Montmartre. I'm very excited to get a last-hurrah with Liz before we part ways...this way, "We'll always have Paris"!

In still other news, the savings is going rather slowly for Sydney, but hopefully it will pick up here soon. January was a bit of a loss, due to lots and LOTS of trips to the doctor for the horrid bronchitis I dealt with for weeks, and weeks, and weeks...The good news is that I've got lots of tutoring at the moment, which definitely helps keep the bank savings from getting smaller. Now if I can only get them to grow!

Paris in the Springtime!

There is a possibility that I might be going to Paris for Spring Break. YES-that's Paris, FRANCE!!!

In other (related) news~ just met a lady from Queensland who tells me that Sydney is ridiculously expensive. Cutting back on my Starbucks now...and going on a diet. I think I'm going to try to get my daily food intake down to breakfast and high tea instead of lunch and dinner. I also need to save more money!