Cherry Blossom Adventures

I am not very consistent in participating in wordless wednesday but when you get home at 9:50pm, want to sleep but realize you haven`t yet blogged when you have said you will blog every day for the month well a blog thingy like wordless wednesday really helps you out.

Taken while crossing the bridge near my house to get to the train station. I live near the bay so this creek`s water levels really depend on the tide…

By the way, my wish came true, and I convinced my family to all chip in and get me a DSLR for Christmas. I am going to go with the Olympus E-520 I think as I have been a loyal Olympus user for years and have always loved the cameras. I originally thought the E-420 but changed my mind! So perhaps after Christmas I will become a more regular partcipator in Wordless Wednesday.

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Remember the little pink singlet shirt thingy I posted a couple of weeks back that I sewed with a lot of help from my sewing teacher? Well since then I have sewed a couple of little things firstly with her help and then by myself!!!

The little zipper pouch in the first picture comes from Amy Karol`s Bend The Rules book and it was easy to follow and complete, so comprehensive in fact that I made another one!!!

Plus I made a little applely pin cushion since I didn`t have one!

See the cute material used for these? It all come from the wonderful Jen when she decluttered and held a garage sale in which I scored a stack of very cute (and in some cases vintage) fabric!

The material in the last picture is so cute that I intend to make an apron out of it for a child perhaps…It is just so adorable!

So these are my sewing conquests of the last couple of weeks…I didn`t get a chance to sew at all this past weekend but I am hoping to make some time this weekend! I think I shall attempt a tote bag (Then I would be able to cross sew a bag off my 101 things list!)

Any other cool links to patterns? Needs to be fairly easy for a beginner like me!

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Today was my first day “on the books” at my job. I have worked their as a temp for 3 & a half months and it was announced last week that I was successful in an EOI (Expression of interest) in the job I was doing….so now I am on government books.

And the best thing, I am actually earning more than I was as a temp which I never thought would happen because the hourly rate for contractors is pretty good but when I was in discussions about taking the job I requested that I be put on at the higher end of the payscale and they agreed…to put me at payscale 4 (the highest) for the job which actually means I will be earning more than what I was on plus I will have benefits like holidays, sick days and flex-time.

Staying in Australia is not a permanent thing and I was quite happy to temp the whole time I was here since I had done it before, it offered variety and experience and the money was decent enough. But with the way Dad is I knew I might need something with a bit more flexibility…I needed to be able to change my schedule if I needed to and I needed to be able to have a day off if I need to take him somewhere. I could do that while I was a temp but it meant loss of pay which was going to get tough…

At this stage my contract is up until the end of January but they are aware that I only want to work until end of April (before finishing up to take the week before the wedding off, get married, spend time with family, honeymoon and then return to Japan at the end of May) so they think that it shouldn`t be a problem to extend the job at least until the end of March possibly until the end of April. They have been really good to me and have assured me that we will be able to work something out…

So yeah, now I am on government books again….

On another note we are having some internet issues at our place and our internet connection has slowed to 64kbs (= very very very slow, especially after living in Japan) and are having trouble with our service provider…rhymes with “kelstra”…and don`t even get me started on the several thousand dollar bill they sent my mother which we are STILL trying to sort out. I know that our internet has slowed down because I downloaded “private practice” as I was missing out on it…and now we will have slow internet until the end of the month. It is making it very difficult to load blogs and use google reader as it is painstakingly slow and makes me want to stick a sharp object in my eye but we will have to live with it until the end of the month. Bring on 1st of December I say!

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I never thought I would date a smoker- then I moved to Japan and everybody I dated was a smoker. In fact I even smoked for a little while when I was in Japan the first time, which was a terrible idea considering I am an asthmatic.

When I met Shun I had already kind of gotten used to having everyone around me smoking and he was no exception- he had been smoking since 17 (was 23 when I met him) and it didn`t seem like he was going to be giving up anytime soon. Then we moved in together, didn`t have a verandah and I was not about to let him smoke inside and then we both got really bad colds and in that time he didn`t smoke. So when he got better I said ” why don`t you just quit since you haven`t smoked for the last 3 days anyway” and he did. He still smoked socially but I think I saw him smoke two or three times (one was the night the madman smacked me on the head with a beer glass and cracked my head open and Shun had to catch a taxi to the hospital) in the 18 months he quit (although I know he smoked more than those 2 or 3 smokes).

Then last year, in about October, he announced he was smoking again. I already knew (I wasn`t stupid- I washed his clothes) and I said fine- but that if we were to ever have kids he would need to quit when I got pregnant and he agreed.

Except lately my dad has been smoking again (after quitting when I was 2- he hadn`t smoked in 20 years) and so whenever Shun would go out for a smoke, Dad would follow. Now with the history of cancer in our families (my father obviously, plus 3 of my grandparents, two aunts etc etc- and Shun`s dad had cancer quit smoking when he found out and Shun`s grandfather died from lung cancer and smoked til the end) I was starting to get worried and I kept saying to Shun if he kept smoking he would get cancer and where would that leave us…and so one day he asked me to bring him home some nicotene patches…so I did and he has been trying to cut back on the cigerettes the last five days as well as using patches

My dad says he will quit again if Shun successfully quits. Dad only smokes about 6-8 cigerettes a day at the moment and I think he could give up quite easily so I hope he does.

Shun was smoking a pack of 20 a day and is now down to 5 a day max (only had four yesterday and has only had 2 so far today) so I am hoping that the quitting works.  Send positive quitting thoughts please people and any  helpful hints are welcome!!!

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Australian Cattle Dogs (Abbey is a blue heeler which is another name for an Australian Cattle Dog) are very intelligent dogs. We had a blue heeler when I was little for awhile and she was sent to obedience training and it took twice as long to train her because they are too smart (for their own good sometimes!) and are very independent.

Abbey will sit, shake hands, wait for food and jump on command. She will not obey no,  stop, “dame”, or down. We are working on them though. The main command we are trying to work on is “no” because she has started howling at the moon and or barking at everything (including rain?!?!?)  and we are trying to incorporate “no” into her doggie vocabulary understanding list so that the neighbours don`t get too pissed off.

See, it is believed that Aussie Cattle Dogs were bred by combining collies, bull terriers, dalmations & dingos (A native Aussie dog) – but we beleive that Abbey is more dingo than anything else. Her tale & ears are particulary dingo like, and with the howling at the moon it is definitely easy to see where the dingo comes in.

She also likes to try to herd us up- and traditionally that is what cattle dogs were bred for…to herd the cattle and nip at their ankles to keep them in line. Abbey will nip at our shoes and walk behind us…even on a walk she prefers to either walk right beside us or behind us instead of in front (unless she sees a bird, another dog or a person because then she goes off running!)

Apparently, the blue heeler pup we had when we were younger used to round up my brother, who would have been about 2 or 3 at the time…she would run around behind him and try to get him cornered into a corner where I beleive she would try to lick my little brother to death.

We haven`t had much issue with Abbey biting, although she will nip our hands when we are patting her if she gets excited and chomps down instead of licking but we have noticed that she only does that with us and never with any other people (which is good- we would hate for her to nip a child). The jumping and the howling are probably our biggest issues…

Tomorrow the farmers markets are happening down in Manly, about a half an hour walk from our place and we have already decided we will all get up early, take Abbey and walk down there. She will probably go a little psycho because there will be a lot of peope around but a lot of people take their dogs and we want her to get used to being around a lot of people…

Hopefully nobody realizes she is more dingo than blue heeler…

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I went back to weight watchers last week after going a bit off track for about 8 weeks….In that time I put on 1.6 kilos.

I went back tonight and I had lost 1.6 kilos in the last week so I am back on track.

I am 1.1 kilo away from having lost 10% of my bodyweight since I started weight watchers & have lost about 8 kilos altogether since I have been back in Australia.

It feels good to be back on track- and it wasn`t as if I was super good or excersised a lot (I do think some of the weightloss may have come from stress over the last couple of weeks though) but it has motivated me to be even better this week and now that Abbey is able to go for walks again (She was desexed just over a week ago but had her stitches out on Tuesday) I plan to take her most afternoons!

The aim- to lose another 3 kilos before Christmas and if I managed that I would be about 6 kilos from my goal weight!

Yay for weightloss!

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In an effort to improve on my writing I have decided to sign up for Encyclopedia of me which started over at Bella Dia (and which I found out about by reading Laura`s blog here...)… participating in this hasn`t actually improved my writing at all but I still live in hope…

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X is for x-rays…

There are not many options for the letter “x”…but it was one of the easier choices of topics.

See I have probably had more x-rays in my 23 years of life than my father, mother & brother have had all added up. I was an accident prone child always falling over, always twisting something or pulling something and constantly at the doctors having x-rays for all different parts of my body. In this x-ray category I am including cat scans, bone scans and any other kind of scan you can think of. My first x-ray, that I remember, was when I was five and squashed my foot in a bike (between the peddle, wheel & spokes). It was my left foot, and to date that is the body part that has caused me the most trouble in my relatively short life. There were no broken bones…it was just a sprain.

I was a runner when I was younger (hard to believe now I know) and was constantly rolling my ankles or knees and ending up on crutches after x-rays- in fact when I was in highschool and on crutches for what was probably the tenth time my parents decided to just buy some crutches so that they could stop borrowing them from the chemist or hospital. Of my ankles alone I would say I have had at least 15 x-rays & bone scans.

Having braces at the end of primary school meant teeth x-rays…lots of them.

In highschool a friends ex boyfriend twisted my hand (long story) and then I sailed all weekend and it swelled up to three times the size and a week later I had an x-ray. The found a chip I think? Then I got angry one day six months later and  slammed my hand down on the kitchen bench (I couldn`t find chocolate- that is why I was angry) and it swelled up again. More x-rays. Then several months later it swelled up for no reason (I woke up and it was fat) and I had more x-rays- they found nothing & now I just have a slight lump on that hand…even now.

Dislocated my shoulder (I fell out of an above ground pool- I may have been a little drunk)- more x-rays…dislocated it again in Japan running into my bedroom doorway. Had another x-ray and there was a cracked bone.

There was also some finger x-rays in there…and a head x-ray or two (one in Japan when the crazy guy hit me on the head with the beer glass and split my head open). Had some torn cartlidge in my ribs last year and had a couple of x-rays then too…no broken ribs though.

Plus in Japan they are fans of doing chest x-rays and I had to have a couple for visa`s in the past. (and for some reason whenever I go to the doctors in Japan with ashtma they usually take a chest x-ray then too)

So yeah, you could say I am SLIGHTLY accident prone…and have had too many x-rays. So many in fact that  they now make me wear a lead coat to prevent me from becoming radioactive!!! I don`t think there is a body part I have not had x-rayed…

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I am creative- at least I like to think I am. I enjoy writing, taking photos, beading, knitting, sewing and much more. Doing these things help me relax and while I am not brilliant at any of them but I still love to do them.

I get a lot of inspiration from the creative girls in Japan who have their own etsy shops and are not only enjoy doing creative things but are good enough to sell their stuff!!!

Check out these brilliant blogs & brilliant etsy shops! With Christmas coming up it would be a great chance to pick up some gifts for friends and families!

 Jo-  http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5369266 (www.jojoebi.etsy.com) (Holding a competition this week- get in there to win a bunch of cool prizes!!! For anyone with kids or who teaches this site has a wealth of cool art ideas that she does with her son. In her shop, I like the bento goods and kimono fabric buttons especially)

Jacqui- – http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5367229 (Jacqui & i also participate in the same forum, FWC, and she is very cool. Check out her new felt/material book bags- They would make great gifts)

Leslie-  http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5104353 (great if you are looking for Japanese craft items like super cute material)

Jan-  (No etsy shop that I know of but inspirational all the same! She has left a couple of comments for me when I have had sewing questions)

Melanie- http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5347284 (Awesome jewellery and she is also doing some de-stashing at the moment so great for a look!)

Andrea-  http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5364658 (Beautiful beautiful paintings and prints!)

All of these girls are lovely and inspiring and you simply must check them all out!!!

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I have seen this little “meme” on a couple of the blogs I have been reading of late and it seems like an easy Sunday post so while I wasn`t tagged for it I am jumping on the bandwagon and giving it ago.

The rules are to post the sixth photo in the sixth folder on your computer. Some have done this and others have taken their sixth photo on flickr or in the 6th folder on flickr, or the sixth photo on their phones.

I have decided, first to post the sixth photo in the sixth folder on my computer- This computer only holds the photos from the last year so they are all fairly recent.

The photo was taken soon after I came back to Australia, before Shun arrived. It is from a dinner I had out with my friend Clarie (who is one of my bridesmaids) and some girls I went to highschool with who I no longer have much to do with for various reasons. The girl with the blond hair in this photo, Anna & I used to be very close.

Anna & Hayley

And this sixth photo in my sixth folder on flickr- Well it is from Disney Sea! I just liked the name of the building and I took the photo when we were on a boat ride.

Even though I wasn`t tagged I am going to tag six people just for fun- they can do it if they want to but certainly don`t have to!

Guera, Enny (Because I love to see yellow smiley faces), Sara, Benay, CoffeeGrl, and Phil.

Nablopomo is not complete with out at least one meme!

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October was a busy month for me and I didn`t get the time to cross as many things off as I would have liked but I did manage to get a couple of things crossed off my 101 list

13. Choose and buy a wedding dress

I have chosen what I want and seen a dress maker and basically chosen the material also- So I guess I can cross this one off. Haven`t completely paid it off yet though!!! I have managed to keep it pretty secret from Shun too, so quite proud of myself. He reads my blog though, or at least looks at the pictures, so I can`t post a picture of what I am going for.

14. Choose and buy bridesmides dresses or material

Done! The style was chosen a while ago but when Clarie was in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago we went and chose the material! I love them and am contemplating getting one in a different colour made for myself because I love it so much! hehe

21. Choose, organize and buy flowers

Done! Had a meeting earlier in October (the same day Clarie, mum & I went to buy the material) and it is all going according to plan!

37. Learn 10 new recipies (7/10)

I have added a couple more to this in the last month- one, chilli crab which we had only recently (It was awesome!) and also a friend at work passed on a recipe for a lovely thai beef curry. Will definitely be making both of these again sometime soon. So now 9/10 down with one left to go! Plan on crossing that off this month.

45. Try (or learn to like) five new fruits of vegetables (3/5)

I now eat broccoli!

53. Do some kind of class either in photography, writing, cooking or something completely different.

I can cross this off now due to sewing classes, which I love! And, I am doing a writing workshop that goes over four weeks (once a week) from mid November.

94. Wake up at 6am everyday for a week

I did this over the last week- ending on Tuesday (I started in October though). I even got up and out of bed by 6:30am on the weekend (The alarm went off at 6am though!)

I am hoping to focus on a couple of things this month for my list, namely getting back on track with my weightloss as over the last two months I haven`t been going to Weight Watchers or following the program although I started back last night. I also want to sew a bag & make a budget. I also need to focus on getting some of the things done that will have to happen while we are still in Australia. Hopefully at least by the end of 2008 I will have crossed off about 50 things- that is my hope anyway. It might be a little too ambitious though….We will see.

For those keeping track 39/101 tasks have been completed.

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