Melbourne here I come!

It just became summer in Perth yesterday, I spent the afternoon at Cottesloe beach! Perth is an OK city in the winter, but it really shines in the summer. Gorgeous beaches, parks, and everything is outdoors.

Just in time for the warm weather, though, I'm headed to chilly Melbourne for the week. Rob's dad is having his 50th birthday party and I'm going along for the ride... but a few days earlier than the rest of the crew so that I can spend four days on my own wandering around the city that is about to become my home next year.

This means researching suburbs to live in (Richmond, Carlton, Collingwood, and Prahran top the list at the moment), lots of shopping (woohooo!!!!), and lots of cafe sitting and coffee drinking. My fingers are crossed for decent weather so that I don't have to spend the entire time shuffling in the rain from one indoor location to the next and can see the city properly.

This all means that when I get back next week I'll be in the midst of end-of-the-semester hell, all assignments and presentations due at the same time, but it'll be so totally worth the pain!

speak to me

I just realized I didn't have open commenting (so that non-blogger members can post comments) enabled on my blog! That was the whole point in leaving vox.

Now you can all comment, bloggers and non-bloggers alike.

Go nuts : ) I'd love to hear from you!

my skype love affair

I really like skype. The more I use it, the more I love it. I remember the first time I used it to talk to Rob on the other side of the world, and it seemed strange to be sitting in front of a webcam talking at a screen to a video image of someone far far away.

But for long distance relationships everywhere, Skype is such a good way to get to speak to and see those you love when they're so far away.

I talked to my parents and Robbie this weekend. Thanks to skype, I now know that:

- Robbie's neck brace is even cooler than I had imagined
- My mom wears crocs!
- They have an awesome new refrigerator
- Robbie grew a fro

It's so good to be able to talk to them 'in person' instead of on the phone.

If you have skype, find me! We'll chat...

sports agro

First, let me say I am ridiculously competitive at sports. A lot of things, really, but sports in particular. Growing up, my brother and I were banned from playing board games in the house because 9 times out of 10 a full-on brawl would ensue. Naturally I was bigger and kicked his butt : )

But I still haven't managed to get over this competitiveness thing. I can't swim in the same lap lane or the lane next to Rob at the pool or I kill myself trying to out-swim him. In yoga class I always try to out-bend the person on the mat next to me. I'll reach deadly speeds trying to snowboard faster than the other guys on the mountain. It's really not healthy.

Unfortunately I also really like playing sports, especially with other people, on the weekend. Last weekend it was tennis, this weekend it was squash, etc. And every time I lose, the game suddenly is a lot less fun.

So what really drives me crazy is when people make this big point of telling me how horrible they are at a sport, how they haven't played in forever, or don't even know the rules, and then turn out to be really good. And I lose to them. It happened today, and I am still touchy about it. I think I need to focus more on individual sports. Or try therapy.

Go Pies

Last week I officially became a Collingwood supporter. (For the Americans, this is an Aussie Rules Football team and the Grand Final (Super Bowl) is in two weeks so football fever is on.)

There are several things which led this to happen.

1. Rob’s family would disown me if I supported any other team.

2. Rocca, one of the players, has a brother who played for Collingwood but is now playing for MY football team in the US (Philadelphia Eagles) as a punter.

3. They made the finals. And beat West Coast. And I was at the game.

4. I’m moving to Melbourne. And what fun is supporting a WA team (go Freo!!) when I’m living right next to the MCG?

5. I’ll be attending all the games next year anyways if I want to see my boyfriend on the weekends.

6. I wear a lot of black and white already.

7. Dale Thomas is cute.

8. Rob promised to join Facebook if I became a Collingwood supporter : ) Look for him on there this Saturday.



Also, congratulations to Elizabeth on her engagement to Justin!!

Whew

Robbie is out of the hospital and back in Richmond recovering for the next couple of weeks. Thanks everyone for your support! I'm looking forward to my visit to Richmond for thanksgiving even more than I was before.

My brother Robbie is in the hospital right now, he sustained a spinal injury during lacrosse practice and had to go into surgery last night.

He's out now and is doing ok, and it looks like he will fully recover, but please keep him and my family in your thoughts, it's been a rough couple of days, on that side of the world and on this side too.

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog! It's not so fancy right now, but if I spend any more time on here today during work I'll be fired from my job.

Its all very exciting/stress inducing

For those of you in the US, get excited, because I'm coming to YOU! Dates for the trip at the end of the year are finally coming together. (Actually, what that means is I've gotten off my lazy butt and finally organised flights and bought tickets).

Here's a rundown on the trip:

21 Nov: Leave Australia for the US
22 Nov: Arrive in LA, then Richmond VA
4 Dec: Arrive in Tampa, FL
11 Dec: Arrive in Quito, Ecuador

Things get sketchy after that (still haven't booked flights, procrastination) but we'll be in Ecuador and Peru, possibly Boliva. Then,

2 Feb: Leave LA for Australia
4 Feb: Arrive in Perth

It gets better. I then have 3 days to sleep/pack/watch TV/take long showers before Mom and Dad Morgan come to visit. One week of Perth sightseeing extravaganza and then

13 Feb: MOVE TO MELBOURNE!!!

But all of that stress inducing packing and moving is for another blog entry further down the road.