a Beer, a Whine and The Spirit

This made me cry a little inside...

Posted by Renae at 4:17 PM Comments

In case you haven't heard, we arrived back home from the USA to Melbourne on Sunday evening, after spending the day with friends and family in Brizzy on Sunday (well, a few hours anyway!) Our trip was incredible. Truly. It couldn't have been better than it was I'm sure. I think we did enough planning to take the stress out of it, but not so much that we couldn't change our plans here and there. Hubs is currently downloading the photos (we're fast running out of hard drive space!!!!) so I'm planning on doing a NaBloPoMo for August starting on Saturday (obviously).

Oh, and the weather here sucks. I got SO used to bright sunshine and warm days, EVERY day. You know, like living in Queensland. It's about 15 degrees here now. Phoooey. I guess it makes me appreciate the good weather when we can get it!! Already looking forward to summer again...

Posted by Renae at 9:47 AM Comments

Everyone loves Autumn. How could you not? There's no point describing Autumn in words, when pictures can tell the story so much better.
Enjoy!







I found this leaf among thousands! I heart Autumn!!

Posted by Renae at 9:43 AM Comments

Here are a few more photos of the College that we took in January.

The Dining Room


Inside the Dome Dining Room (You can see High Table in the top right)


Outside our unit


The view from our balcony

Posted by Renae at 12:04 PM Comments

(I'm still in America, but here's another post I prepared earlier...)

About 10 years ago (what?... gosh that's a long time...) Dad and I used to walk the hills of Red Hill and Kelvin Grove. I was on a health kick at the time, and I needed the extra push (sometimes literally) to get up those hills, and Dad was happy to help out - a little TOO happy sometimes! The worst of the worst was Broadhurst St, so we used to get that out of the way at the start, so the other hills didn't seem as awful. It might not look too bad in the photo, but DAMN that hill was steep! When you were at the top, if you took about 10 steps back and looked down, you would pretty much just see a drop! The thing that made it a real killer though, was that it was SO long. Vale St is steeper, but it's shorter as well, so the pain isn't a lingering one! I just remember trudging up those hills, willing my mind elsewhere so it was more bearable.

I really can't complain though, as Dad also used to (and does still I'm sure!) take a backpack loaded up with bits and bobs to simulate him being in New Zealand, tramping up and down the hills.

And now Dad is proud to have Mum along on his walks! Yeah Mum! We used to go around 6pm which was an absolute killer, as we could smell all the home-cooked meals, waiting to be eaten! But I guess it did get us home quicker!

Thanks Dad! No, really. Thanks a LOT! :-)

Posted by Renae at 3:12 PM Comments

(We're in America at the moment, so here's a post I prepared earlier!!)

Beast of Burden (the Bette Midler version)

"I'll never be your beast of burden"

or is it

"I'll never be your big supporter" (that's just mean!)

Posted by Renae at 8:03 PM Comments

So we're leaving for the USA tomorrow. Bit scary and wild, but mainly VERY EXCITING!!!!!!!! Here's a rough idea of what we're doing/where we're going:

Friday 26 June - Flying in to LA, hire a car (convertible!!) and drive to Palm Springs, stay 1 night
Sat 27 June - Drive to Williams, AZ and camp for the night
Sun 28 June - Day trip to Grand Canyon with Marvellous Marv (SO excited about that!!), camp at Williams again
Mon 29 June - Drive a LONG way, cross 2 states and 2 timezones (dammit) to Amarillo, TX. Stay in a motel and sleeeeeeeeeeeep
Tue 30 June - Drive to Springfield, MO (we have to go to at least 1!) and stay the night with my friend Colleen's brother and his family
Wed 1 July - short drive to Lake of the Ozarks to stay with our friends who travelled all the way to Australia from the US for our wedding!
Sat 4th July - Celebrate Independence Day, maybe on the lake!
Not sure about the next few days - playing it by ear, but the lake looks like a lovely place to explore!
Thurs 9th July - drive from wherever we are to New Orleans and stay a few days
Sun 12 July - drive from New Orleans through Mobile to visit another friend, then drive a few more hours and maybe camp somewhere
Mon 13 July - make our way to Smoky Bear campground in the Smoky Mountains and spend the night, then explore the next day and spend another night
Wed 15 July - Drive to Washington DC
Thur 16 July - say goodbye to car and explore DC for a couple of days
Sat 18 July - Train from DC to New York!! Stay in NYC for a few days and explore
Wed 22 July - Fly NY all the way to San Diego
Thur 23 July - ComicCon in San Diego (the only way I could get Hubs to the states!!!)
Fri 24 July - Train from SD to LA, then fly out that night
Sun 26 July - arrive Brisvegas 5am, leave 1pm, arrive Melbourne 3pm, collapse in a heap!!

Jealous? :-)

So I'm not sure how much/if I'll get a chance to post much over the next month, but I do plan to have another Nablopomo in August to make up for it! I may even schedule a few posts to pop up, just to keep you entertained! Adios amigos!!

Posted by Renae at 6:00 PM Comments

Yeah, it's good to be a Queenslander. Especially today!! For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, I'M TALKING ABOUT THIS!!! I watched the game with an indifferent Victorian and a dirty New South Wales supporter! (There's your shout-out DT!! You're famous!!)

What a mish-mash of a game, but what a great record-breaking victory! I could go on and on but I'll save my rant for another day.

GO MAROOOOOOOOOOONS!!!

Posted by Renae at 10:11 AM Comments