The Night I Celebrated Christmas Eve a Day Before You.

On, and steamy summer night, the exact opposite of the weather in the Northern Hemisphere little Lacey Lee Walker joined the Lawless family for a night of sea food barbeque celebration on the deck.

It all started when I asked James' Mum if I could do anything to help. She asked me to get the crackers from the table inside and put them out on the table outside. So I set out in search of crackers. I pictured something in a big red box, and possibly a Ritz sign, logo, or title. I wandered aimlessly scouting for crackers that I assumed we would be using for some sort of dip before dinner. After a few minutes of looking around cluelessly and not finding any crackers, no ritz, no wheat, no table, no sesame, no water, no crackers of any gluten assortment. I finally asked Graham (which by the way you do not pronounce like we say the Graham cracker, it has two syllables, similar to Gray-ham), regardless I told him I was trying to find crackers, but could not. He kind of looked at me like I was an idiot and pointed to a box sitting on the table, which did indeed contain "crackers." I looked at him laughing and said, "Oh haha, I was literally looking for eating crackers...", once he understood that I had no idea what a Christmas cracker was he laughed as well and understood my confusion.

Well you might know what a Christmas Cracker is, but I did not. It is a paper tube with fancy decoration that you pull apart with the person next to you. Whoever has the larger part that pulls apart (making a cracking noise, hence the name crackers) gets the gift inside, then they put on the Christmas hat (I think more accurately it should be called a Christmas paper crown) inside and tell the joke that comes with it. The gift I won inside was a fingernail clipper, my hat was green and my joke was:

What do you call a blind dinosaur?

--A do-you-think-he-saw-us.

Not enough of a laugh, well here you can see me in my super awesome and newly renamed Christmas paper crown (recently renamed for accuracy from the more commonly known Christmas hat name.) Not only will the silliness of the hat make you laugh, but this photo captures the pure surprised and goofy essence of muah...OK actually it was me looking with awkward curiosity at the little orange light that comes before the flash of a camera and hurrying a smile, but I digress:

Well after the hats, jokes, and little gifts the feeding frenzy started. On another side note, Australia is supposed to be famous for their bbq's(need I remind anyone of the famous phrase, "throw another shrimp on the barbie, mate.") You would think that being here for nearly 6 months I would have had tons of bbqs. But nope, this was my first one (definitely not my last since my Christmas present from my Dad was a bbq, thanks Dad, and I am sure there will be many adventures involving that BBQ to come.) Well James' family knows how to do it right. First we had "angels and demons" which are either dates wrapped in bacon or oysters wrapped in bacon. Then we had some delicious skewer things that had sausage and scallops with salad. Then we had salmon cakes and a different salad:

Then we had oysters Rockefeller, and some delicious scallops:

Well like any holiday in the states it is all about over indulgence with food. And oh did we ever. There was apparently a final real meal and dessert as well but at this stage no one could manage to eat another bite. So we went in and participated in one of my personal favourite activities....board games, hooray!

It was a very different but very nice Christmas Eve in Australia.

Merry Christmas From My Army of Gingerbread Men

As part of my Christmas cookie extravaganza, James made a special request for gingerbread cookies. So I made it more fun by making my own army of ginger bread men. There was a whole range. First, I made a happy little ginger girl:

Then I made the smirking too cool for himself CEO who prides himself on being fashionable:

Since I had made the power hungry CEO I made his worker drone who is less than happy about life:

I made many others, but I made sure to make this little guy who is just happy being him:

In the end everyone was happy (minus the mindless worker drones) but I was happy because I was able to be creative, James was happy because he got gingerbread men(OK well not all men, there were an equal smattering of gingerwomen, and I also decorated one of the men as a woman wearing a suit, because that is the fasion, and equal rights and all), and most of the gingerbreadmen had hopelessly ignorant smiles of happiness on their faces.

The moral of the sotry is Merry Christmas from me and all of my Gingerbread people.

Merry Christmas Eve

What? You think I am jumping the gun, well, no I am not, it is Christmas Eve here. So that means that, tonight santa will be coming, and tomorrow there will be snow, and I need to leave santa some milk and cookies tonight, and and and....

Actually it means that it is 5:54AM and James and I are leaving for the airport in 6 minutes to go to Canberra. We will finish up some last minute shopping first and then go to his families house.

The moral of the story is MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!

The Cookie Monster Would Be Jealous of My Sugar Cookies

Well, it sure wouldn't be Christmas time for me unless, I have had a cookie baking extravaganza, that leaves my arms fatigued, my feet sore from standing on them for 4 hours, have frosting in my hair, and flour all over my clothes. It has been done! Hooray! It always helps to put me in the Christmas spirit :)

After much searching for the perfect recipe, a long walk to the store, many conversions to metric measurements, and the incidental sugar high that comes from tasting dough, icing, and eating the poor cookies that break and can't make the cut, the cookies are done :)

First I made sugar cookies :) :)

If you can't tell I am a bit tired here and trying to keep my eyes open.

There are candy cane cookies...

And stockings/santas boots cookies...

And Frosty The Snowman....

So hooray, here comes the sugary Christmas spirit.......

The Matrix, In Sydney?!

Well, even though I am sure that most of the living world has seen a little movie called "The Matrix," until the other night I had not. It was partially an academic endeavour due to the fact that in nearly everyone of my classes we talk about this movie, so now I am educated, but I found out something much more interesting...the Matrix was filmed in Sydney.

I did not tell initially from the sights of the city, instead I was tipped off by the walk signal. I will have to show you pictures, I have taken a few, but the green and red men who tell you when to walk across the street are no normal stick figures. These men have a t-shaped body, muscles, and even feet. The sign artists in Australia are much more detail oriented than in the states.

If you watch the movie the matrix a few other things to look for to tell you it is Sydney, the scene with the woman in red, the fountain is right between George Street and Castlereaugh. They walk past a window and you can see the bottom of the Common Wealth Bank logo (my bank.) Well I thought that was pretty cool....maybe the matrix wasn't filmed in Sydney....maybe I am in the matrix....

DUN DUN DUN

Great Barrier Reef, About Time

I realize that it has been some time from my trip to the Great Barrier Reef, but I only now realized that I had not yet shared this experience with you.

While Blaise was here we went to Cairns a city in northeast Australia, that has great access to the reef. We left bright and early, our tour came to pick us up and we were very thankful for that, because we were about all walked out. We then took a nice hour boat ride out to Green Island, on the way we took lots of silly pictures, oh yeah and we enjoyed the view too:

When we got there we collected our snorkel gear and tried to snorkel. Well, they had warned us of jellyfish, and after seeing about 20 jellyfish stuck the the shallow bottom, we chickened out (well maybe more specifically I chickened out,) but the water just did not seem to be getting deep enough for much coral or getting away from the jelly fish. But we did see some neat things along the way. So we went on a glass bottom boat ride. I wish we had kept going out a bit more and splurged and rented the Lycra full body suit to protect against jelly fish but we did not. Because just a little further than were we ventured the really cool stuff started! On the boat ride we saw a ton of beautiful coral, and fish, they even fed them at one point and they went nuts, jumping racing and fighting to the surface!

Then we saw a turtle, and thankfully our boat driver told a Finding Nemo joke, which Blaise and I appreciated, but I am not sure if anyone else got because we were the only ones who laughed and the boat driver said, "well I am glad that at least a few of us are awake.

It was a great experience, but I have learned my lesson. Like the cowardly lion, I need to get some courage. The next time I go, because there sure will be a next time, I am going to get a full body jelly fish shield (aka a Lycra suit, it even covers your hands) I don't care how ridiculous I look, I will need it, and I am just going to keep swimming out until I see something and it will be great!

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I am Sure You are Sick of Hearing About Christmas Carols...

....but that is just too darn bad. This one is for good cause. I went to an event called "Carols in the Domain" last night. It was a beautiful free outdoor concert, near the Royal Botanic Gardens. They have an outside stage, and everyone brings blankets, picnic foods, and sits around holding candles and sing along with the carols.

They had an array of amazing performers including:

-The Wiggles

-The cast of Wicked

-One of their Australian Idols

-The McClymonts

-Ronan Keating

-Many different beautiful choirs

It was a great way to get into the Christmas spirit.

There were so many people there, that I was nearly claustrophobic, I don't think I have ever seen that many people gathered at one event. But when you looked out into the sea of flickering red candles, and joyful people singing carols you couldn't help but smile. I tried to take a picture of the sea of people, this only shows about a fifth of the entirety but it might give you an idea:

Well I must get back to doing laundry and singing, "walking in a beachy sandy land."

Well How About That, They Have Camels In Australia

You know how they say you learn something new every day? Well I learned something new about Australia today, drum roll please.............they have camels. My roommate Cassi said to me the other day, "do they have camels in Australia?" I proceeded to laugh, and she continued to explain that she was watching a travel commercial for Australian travel and she could have sworn in shot of the outback that there was a road sign of camels. I continued to laugh at her and assure her that her eyes must have deceived her, it surely was just a kangaroo sign. So I had this conversation with James today:

Me-"Honey, the next time we see Cassi, you must assure her that there are not camels in Australia."

James-"Yeah, there are camels in Australia."

Me-"No, no there are not"

James-"Yeah, it's a desert not much else can survive there, they are perfect for it."

Me-"No, there can't be camels in Australia...are there really? This is not like you trying to convince me that the possums outside your house was a haunted ghost of a man?"

James-"There are, they are not native, but there are tons."

Well, since James is renowned for constantly pulling my leg, I needed a second opinion....and yes apparently there are camels. If you want to read about it you can see it here:

http://www.outback-australia-travel-secrets.com/camels-australia.html

So there you go, your new and relatively useless fact of the day. They have brought camels to Australia, because they are better suited for the dry climate of the deserts than horses....I hope you find this as mind boggling yesterday as I did today.

Christmas Carols in the Southern Hemisphere

Well, as most of you reading this are probably sipping hot chocolate wanting a blanket wrapped around you, and possibly looking outside with the real lyrics to, "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...." running through your head. Things in this hemisphere are a little different. My Dad wrote me the other day and said it had warmed up that it actually got to 30 degrees..well it is 30 degrees here but Celsius not Fahrenheit, which is roughly 80 degrees Fahrenheit (give or take, I am just going by the times two add twenty simplified rule, too lazy to actually look up a conversion, even though I am on a computer with access to the internet and by the time I finish writing this aside I could have had the correct number, but I digress.) The moral of the story is that Christmas carols and, songs, and sayings don't have the same affect, if it is not indeed a cold and/or snowy Christmas. Therefore, I am going to ban myself from singing any Christmas carols that have snow or cold related lyrics, so that eliminates:

-Frosty The Snowman
-Walking in a Winter Wonderland (unless of course substituted for my version)
-Jingle Bells
-I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas
-Chestnuts Roasting
-O' Christmas Tree
-Jingle Bell Rock
-I'll Be Home for Christmas
(That is what I could come up with off the top of my head)





Thankfully, that does not eliminate all carols, I can still sing:


-Rudolph (the only weather mentioned in this song is fog, and it can get foggy here, so that is safe)
-Silent Night
-Little Drummer Boy
-Mele Kalikimaka (thank you Elvis and Hawaii)


But don't worry that does not mean that I have not been trying to get into the Christmas spirit. First James and I put up the tree, that helped a bit. Then in true Lacey fashion I came up with a wacky idea that I am sure James was less than excited about, but was a good enough sport to go along with. Here is the result before I tell you the funny story first:

So, yes, I thought it would be cute to take photos on the beach with these stupid hats. In defense of James' silly elf hat, his head was too big to fit the Santa hats, so he got the elf one. Anyways,I think the picture turned out nice, and for the purpose. However, I knew I was pushing my luck with this idea. I had said, "let's get dressed nice and go down to the beach and take photos with our hats." Then I proceeded to get ready and put on a nice dress. James threw on his board shorts and t-shirt. But I knew I was already pressing my luck.....plus it does look beachy so I did not request for him to change.

I hope everyone is having a nice chilly yesterday. If you get some snow, look at it and sing a snow related carol for me :)

Bug Bothers of the Non-Spider Assortment

OK folks, well it turns out that it is not just spiders that like me. It is mosquitoes (at one point I had about 10 bites), moths, and grasshoppers. Cassi and I got so fed up with the insect problem that we even assembled our own screens see:

As you can see, the screens are not of professional quality, but all the edges are sealed. Before the screens the downstairs bathroom would by morning be filled with about 30 mosquitoes. Cassi's solution to killing them was to spray roach spray in the bathroom and then shut the door until they all dropped dead on the floor. Since the installation of screens we have significantly improved our mosquito problem and only encounter the occaisional mosquito. So you would assume that if our screens could keep out mosquitoes that they would be able to keep out grasshoppers that are about as long as the average cell phone. Well, apparently they cannot. When I got home from James' house last night there was a huge grasshopper in the upstairs hallway (the size similar to length of cell phone as previously mentioned, on a side note Cassi and I named him Gary the Grasshopper.) Anywhoo I decided I was too tired to care, and since it was not in my room,, and not a spider, it was not a pressing issue. I went to bed and laying there, of course Gary started chirping. Not like a cricket, but just a random clicking noise. I went to go find Gary, but could not, and I was so tired it didn't matter, he clicked/chirped me to sleep. Well this morning still no sign of Gary....well that is until I got in the shower and had my hair all nice and soapy. As I glanced at the shower caddy, there was good ol' Gary sitting on my roommates sponge. So mid-shower I had to detain Gary and let him out of my window.

May I remind you that earlier this year a spider saw it fit to take a shower with me as well. The moral of the story is that insects be it arachnids or not simply love me, and feel it necessary to visit me in the shower.

I hope you are having a pleasant and less insect filled yesterday.

My Place, Won't You Be My Neighbor

Well the time has come to finally show you my place. After weeks of procrastination and assuring my Dad that this would get done, I am doing it! It might have been more logical to put these pictures up as soon as I got here, but nah, that is not how I roll. But you can now join me on a tour of my place:

Here is my bed, with the rockin' hand-me-down asian comforter, I love free. Plus every once in a while me and my friends like to guess what the symbols mean. We think it would be funny if they said things like "restless sleep, nightmare, or lollipop." I must admit I am not a fan of having to sleep in a child size bed at the age of 23, but the worst part is not the size, it is the feel. In the words of Blaise, "what is this, made of rocks?" Aka it is hard, but oh well it is a place to sleep, so hooray for that.

Next you will find my "get ready station" it has all of my hair and make up things. Do you like that stand, that is a result of dumpster diving and fixing up. When I found that it was wobbly and had three wheels, now it works perfectly for me, hooray!

Here is my desk, as you can see my faithful coffee pot sits next to my computer, very scary at times, but hey it is the only place the cord will reach the plug, so I have to be very careful. This is where I write these blog posts, as I am doing right now.

And this is our kitchen. It is small but it works for most purposes. The main complaints with the kitchen are: 1. The stove is basically like four hotplates, and they never get to the right temperature. 2. See our microwave, well that is not only our microwave, but our oven...a bit small for any realistic baking needs, so cookies have been in short supply. 3. One of our roommates refuses to wash her dishes during the week and will only do them on the weekend, and she yells at us if we wash them.....but I digress.

Next welcome to our dining room. We have had a few dinners at this table (come to Australia, Brittany Scallon and I will feed you :). Also, we decided to brighten the room by painting a picture together, using the wacky color scheme of the apartment (aka, bright orange and green.) Oh yeah, and that is Bob our apartment fish, which was Cassi's brilliant idea....cough cough.

Finally welcome to our living room, where we sit on our big ugly couches and watch TV. If you have not yet noticed, yes my Halloween costume is hanging up over our art. We decided that Tony The Tiger is much nicer to look at than the 'art' that is permanently placed there (literally it is screwed to the wall as if someone would want to take it.) Behind tony the tiger is a picture of a headless mannequin with a naughty nurse costume on....

Well I hope you enjoyed the tour. If anyone would like to come and visit you are more than welcome. Plus we are getting a grill soon! So we can throw a shrimp on the barbie for you :)

Walking in a Sandy Beachy Land

Inspired by my last post, I have re-written one of my favorite Christmas carols to fit with my current location and season.

The Original Winter Wonderland Version (by Felix Bernard ):

"Sleigh bells ring, are you listening, In the lane, snow is glistening A beautiful sight, We're happy tonight. Walking in a winter wonderland.

Gone away is the bluebird, Here to stay is a new bird He sings a love song, As we go along, Walking in a winter wonderland.

In the meadow we can build a snowman, Then pretend that he is Parson Brown

He'll say: Are you married? We'll say: No man, But you can do the job When you're in town.

Later on, we'll conspire, As we dream by the fire To face unafraid, The plans that we've made,
Walking in a winter wonderland.

In the meadow we can build a snowman, And pretend that he's a circus clown We'll have lots of fun with mister snowman, Until the other kids knock him down.

When it snows, ain't it thrilling, Though your nose gets a chilling We'll frolic and play, the Eskimo way, Walking in a winter wonderland."

My New and Improved Version to fit a Sydney Wonderland (using the same tune as Felix Bernard):

"Ferry honks, are you listening? On the bridge, lights are glistening. It's a beautiful sight, were happy tonight, walking in a sandy beachy land.

Gone away are the normal birds, here to stay are the cheeky birds. They make crazy sounds, as we go along. Walking in a sandy beachy land.

On the beach we can build a sand mermaid, and pretend that she is Ariel. We'll say do you want to be a human, and she will try to give us her voice box.

Later on we'll perspire, as we tan and feel like fire. Our faces will burn, for aloe they'll yearn. Walking in a sandy beachy land.

On the beach we can build a sandcastle, and pretend it is being attacked by tsunamis. We'll say can you take, it'll say no man, and it will wash away in the water.

Sand in toes, ain't it thrilling, soft white sand, what a feeling. We'll frolic and play, the surfer dude way. Walking in a sandy beachy land."

Christmas Down Under

I have been having a hard time getting that "Christmas spirit" feeling. Not because I am grumpy or a scrooge...I think it is just because the weather is not changing into a cold and snowy wonderland. Right now I am surely not, "walking in a winter wonderland," there are definitely not possibilities to, "in the meadow we can build a snow man," and I will surely not, "dream by the fire." Because it is summer, and at times it gets so hot, that I cannot sleep. All of the Christmas advertisements show little girls helping to decorate the Christmas tree in sun dresses, which always makes me laugh. Anyways, James and I decided to try and get into the Christmas spirit by putting up a tree. It sure did help. But all the snowy Christmas songs still sound a bit silly, when I look out his window and see the ocean. Here is the result of our handy work:

We think we did pretty good, don't ya think? How is the weather in yesterday land? A little more Christmasy?

Trains, Planes and Automobiles, with an Addition of Boats and Buses, and Lots and Lots of Walking

I had originally intended for the theme of Blaise's visit to be something such as: summer, down under, beach, or harbour time. However, reflecting on her visit I now see a very clear theme: transportation. While she was here we used nearly ever mode of transportation known to man and on more than two wheels. First there was a taxi to get her from the airport, James drove us one day, the subway, then there were the non-stop buses every single day. So many that it became a joke and Blaise even felt the need to capture a photo of us on the bus:

We took ferrys and boats, of course I had to imitate the joke Saturday Night Live song, "I am on a boat," if you have not seen it, YouTube it. So I was showing off my flippy floppys on a boat

We took a plane to cairns, but failed to document that. However, once we were there we took an old fashioned train ride through the beautiful rainforest to this little hippie town called Kurunda. As you can see we entertained ourselves on the ride back down by taking photos:

And then there was the walking, oh the great amount of walking. by the time Blaise left we both had blisters on our feet. I bet that in the ten days she was here we walked about 50 miles or more. Don't get me wrong we were always on our way to do something fun and exciting, but we got tired occasionally, resulting in loopy photos such as:

"I am so tired, I think I will just take a nap right here"

...and this...

"I don't need a nap I swear, I always act like this."

We had an absolutely fantastic time and experienced so many great things, so I do not mean to seem like I am complaining, but boy oh boy, I never realised what work it is to transport oneself, without a car.

Head, Shoulders, Finger Toes, Finger Toes

Blaise has always teased me about my long toes, or as she refers to them "finger toes." I must admit that my my toes are quite long, and when I put my foot next to Blaise's foot our feet are the same size, but mine are only that big on account of my toes. However, I still was a bit in denial about my finger toes, until Blaise decided to prove it to me on her recent trip to the land down under:

So fine, I guess I do. I am officially coming out of the finger toe closet, there is now photographic evidence, and I can no longer hide.

Bats A Plenty

If anyone has a bat phobia, I recommend that you do not visit Australia, or at least don't go out at night. Those little buggers are everywhere. Here is an example, in the middle of the beautiful Sydney botanical gardens there is a colony of them living in the trees. As you can tell they are just taking a snooze in the tree tops since it is day time.

When Blaise was here she at first freaked out about one bat, but had to become accustomed to it quite quickly after she saw masses of them. I thought that there were quite a few in Sydney...but boy oh boy were we in for a surprise when we visited Cairns. One day after a long sun filled snorkeling excursion, Blaise and I stopped by the Night Markets. Once we finished we were both starving, tired, and grumpy....such a good combination I know... We stopped and got Subway, we didn't think we would make it all the way back to our hotel before consuming it, so we went to stop at a nice quiet bench in front of the Library. We noticed the mass of bats flying above head. Didn't really think twice about it because we were so tired and hungry. So we sat down, and before I could even get my sandwich out a bat dropped a hard seed on my head. I like to think that it just dropped, it, I avoid thinking that it pooped it on my head, for obvious reasons. As Blaise pulled her sandwich out a bat swooped a little too close for comfort. Needless to say we grabbed our sandwiches and practically sprinted out of the area. Even though we were starving we opted to wait for our quiet little mom and pop hotel's courtyard which we knew was a bat free zone.

Screens are for Wussys but I am a Wussy...

In Australia screens seem to be overrated. No one I know has screens on their windows, including me. This lack of screenage however, leads to an abundance of insect wildlife. As many of you know I am not fond of spiders, and this allows them in. The spiders are not the biggest problem currently. It has been very hot in Sydney, so hot that even with my fan blowing "cool" air in from my open window at night, I still cannot sleep. The open window at night also allows one of my favourite creatures into my room....mosquitos, or as they call them here mozzies. I am not even sure how many bites I have after a couple of these nights trying to sleep. I have found out that Tea Tree Oil is quite good for the itching, but at this point I may as well take a bath in it...if only I had a bath tub. The moral of the story is that, even though in Australia screens may be for wimps, I am a wimp and I am going to fashion myself a good 'ol U.S. of A. screen for my window.

Wish me luck!

Thanksgiving in the Land Down Under

Well Happy Turkey Day everyone!!!!

I had the pleasure of celebrating this day, one day before everyone else back at home :)- Blaise and I in line with the Thanksgiving day tradition took the liberty of gorging ourselves all day. First we went to the fish markets and got a platter of lobster, shrimp, oysters, scallops, and octopus, and then we made a dinner.

Blaise and I had my friend Mike over for our make-shift Thanksgiving meal. I made mashed potatoes, stuffing, and bought a rotisserie chicken. Hey I know it is not even the same bird, but it was simple and I don't really have an oven. Mike brought over a pecan tart for us. We even went around the table and said what we were thankful for. It was nice, different but nice. It was odd to not be in the company of real family, and it was odd to celebrate it on a day where it was over 90 degrees. However, in true Thanksgiving day style the end result was the same....aka super full tummy.

I hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving and I miss you all and wish I could be celebrating with you yesterday.

Surfing USA....Wait I Mean Sufing AUS

Well....it has been done, I have attempted surfing. Thankfully Blaise was here to experience it with me. Not only was it a lesson in surfing but it was also a lesson in Aussie surfer dude lifestyles. We were picked up in a rickety old van and drove an hour away from town. One of our tour guides was not wearing shoes, that was the one driving us. The other guys kept pulling up next to us, and honking his horn. We got to the beach and they taught us the moves. Our instructor kept having trouble describing things in eloquent sentences, so much so that he kept saying things like, "whats a good word, you know us surfers aren't the smartest guys, you know, so uhhhh we don't have a very big vocabulary....symmetrical, hey that's the word, pretty good for a surfer." Regardless of his vocabulary, (which did mainly consist of words such as: woah, yeah, haha, right on,) he was a good teacher and I think that every one stood up on the board at least once. Blaise and I were not too shabby, and it was fun. Here is Blaise:

And here is me:

Hooray! The wipe outs were hilarious, but the funniest part of the day was when I started talking to a one of the other girls on the trip who said she was a medic in the navy. I told her my boyfriend was in the navy too and she asked me what ship, she didn't have any connection to the ship, but a few minutes later her friend ran over to me and said, "your boyfriends on Melbourne, do you know..." I had hear the names but didn't know them. Then she asked what his name was and I told her, and the rest of the afternoon all I heard was, "I can't believe you are dating Jimmy Lawless!" What a small world.

Well Blaise and I are going to go get ready it is Thanksgiving here today and so we are going to the Fish Markets again to celebrate....mmmmm fresh sea food.

Which Way Would Water Whirl?

Since being here one of the most frequent questions I receive (only second to spiders) is about which way water goes down the drain. Until now I had not been able to answer that question and I am still not really sure if it is the right answer. First of all the toilets don't swirl flush, the way they drain is more a splash into the bowl and then the water just floods out, no swirling. I finally checked the sink the other day and it swirled down counter-clock wise. Which way does it go for you? I read a little bit and it sounds like the Coriolis affect that is supposed to happen cannot affect such small events consistently, that in fact the way the water is introduced into the bowl, the shape of the bowl and the drain are all much bigger factors in the way that water whirls. But that is not as fun to think about sooooo.....

Lets do an experiment. Everyone test this and tell me what way the water whirls down the drain and then email me. If in fact we get opposing whirling ways between hemispheres, we will call it good, and think that it is simple and neat. Let me know what you find out!

A wonderful bird is the pelican,

His bill will hold more than his belican.

He can take in his beak

Food enough for a week,

But I’m damned if I see how the helican.

When I was a little girl and I would walk near the Windsor Lake with Granny and Papa, we would look at all the pelicans out on the water. Papa would always tell me this poem. And of course I would always giggle when he would say 'helican.' I wrote Papa an email a week or so ago telling him I told Blaise this poem, he responded that it was not his poem, and that his Grandfather told it to him. As a matter of fact the poem is by Dixon Lanier Merritt. But in order to follow the now family tradition of grandfathers telling this to their grandchildren once I am a grandfather I will too tell this poem to my grandchildren.





Those pelicans at Windsor Lake have nothing on the Australian Pelican. This is one of the largest birds I have ever seen. Their beak alone is about three feet long, so I think that undoubtedly they would be able to hold more than their belican.

Unfortunately I was unable to crawl into this fence with the pelicans to show you the scale, but if I were to stand next to them they would be at least as half as tall as I am. Very large creatures with the ability to hold a very large amount of food in their flexible beaks.

The Taronga Zoo and Their Alledged Platypus

Well hello folks of yesterday and any of you joining us from today, it is nice to see you again. I have not written much for a while, and for good reason...I have been out collecting new material, so there are plenty of posts coming for the future. As I have said before Blaise is here and we have been up to crazy adventures. One of the first adventures was the Taronga Zoo.

This zoo is a set on the beautiful harbour and overlooks all of Sydney. See what I mean this is Blaise and I waiting for the bird to show and enjoying the lightening show going on in the Harbour and city.

Obviously Blaise wanted to see Australian Animals, and of course I did as well. I can never get over how those Kangaroos and Wallaby's walk on "all 5's" (aka they use their tail as well.) She also liked the Koalas, which were cute and just relaxing in the trees. My favourite were the Elephants, and they have a little baby Elephant right now...sooooooo cute.

See see see! How cute is that, I told you so :)

It was a great time but let me get to the two morals of this post:

1. Spiders love me, even despite my extreme hatred for them. Damn you Aragog, damn you!

During our day at the zoo, I was attacked by 3, yes, three spiders. There was the one that crawled on my neck during lunch and Blaise had to carefully pick it from my jugular. Then there were the two who as I was observing maps just decided to repel to my face level and pointing hands. I just imagine Aragog sending his soldiers out and laughing while he watches them torture me. Maybe I just need to start liking spiders so that they leave me alone!

2. I think that the Taronga Zoo only has an alleged Platypus.

I have now been to the Taronga Zoo two times since being in Sydney, and both times I have made it my own mission to see they platypus. They have to be the oddest creatures in the world, and I want to see one. Plus the logo for the zoo even has one see:

Now because their logo incorporates the animal and they have about 10 different viewing zones for this animal, it is logical to think that one might actually see a Platypus while at the zoo. After the first time of not seeing Mr. Platypus I vowed that, "one day I shall get you Mr. Platypus." But after this trip to the zoo I have had a revelation.....I don't really think there is a platypus. At every single one of their many "platypus" viewing stations there is also a sign that says something like, "Don't see the platypus? They are shy, they may be somewhere else with less people, or hiding in shady waters." So I figure they don't actually have one and they are covering themselves by telling everyone it is somewhere else than where they are, "oh, dang you just missed him." Yeah, well this is not as easy as pulling the, "oh no I killed my roommates beta fish, I better replace it trick." I will see a platypus there...or else!...or else what, I have not figured it out, however, I am determined to get some answers.

Well Blaise and I are exhausted from our other adventures check back tomorrow for some more, well actually today, but your tomorrow, oh well you get the point.

Life is Good

Quick Update
Life is fantastic and exciting and here are a few reasons why:

1. Blaise is here
2. We are going to the Zoo today to see my furry hopping friends. (By the way did you know that they walk on 'all 5's', meaning they actually use their tail for leverage when walking....if you are lucky I shall demonstrate when I get home.)
3. We have gone to the beaches.
4. We are going surfing tomorrow.....this could get interesting.
5. We are going to Cairns on Sunday! To see the Great Barrier Reef!!!!!!
6. Fresh seafood.

And that is just to mention a few, I hope everyone is having a pleasant yesterday. I have kidnapped Blaise and she is now here with me in tomorrow.

Mmmmmm Kangaroo Skewers

I have officially tried Kangaroo! I had to try my hardest not to picture the bouncing troop that I saw in Canberra, or I probably could not have done it (they are pretty cute creatures.)

It tasted kind of like beef but leaner, and a little tougher, could have been the way that I cooked it. It kind of reminded me of Buffalo meat. Now I just need to try emu, and I will have eaten the Australian Coat of Arms.

Ya see what I mean? Yum yum, eating symbols of national pride=yummy. While this practice of consuming animals featured on the coat of arms is acceptable in Australia, don't worry I won't forget that when I get back to the states I cannot go around eating bald eagles.

Wow! Is it already November.... I mean Movember?

As you may be well aware it is November now, however; you may not be aware that it is actually Movember, and that means, walking around Australia you might think you stepped back in time to the 70's. For those of you that are confused my by misspelling of the month November, let me explain. November is the month, and in Australia it is a month where they try to raise money for men's health research and bring awareness to men's health issues. They do this by having men raise money by collecting pledges for them to grow a moustache in the month of November. Hence: moustache+November=Movember

This month has many consequences:
1. With the combination of Australia's male style of tight pants and low cut shirts and the addition of the moustache= The 70's.
2. Guys decide to grow the most appalling shapes of moustaches, just because they would not otherwise-ie-handle bar, mini, extra long....
3. Some guys who are too young sport patchy and pathetic moustaches.
4. I keep thinking Burt Reynolds is walking around everywhere.

I guess that I am just lucky in the fact that James was too busy to collect pledges and therefore, he is still moustachless.

If a Goose is a Goose and Many are Geese and a Flock is a Gaggle...

Then does that make one Kangaroo a Kangaroo, and many Kangarees, and a herd a Kaggle? No, it does not, instead a Kangaroo is a Kangaroo, many are Kangaroos, a herd is a troop or a mob, and Lacey gets very excited to see them in the wild! Since I have been slacking on the posting due to excessive amounts of paper writing I forgot to mention that I saw a troop of Kangaroos in Canberra! I had told James' family about how much I wanted to see a Kangaroo that was not in the zoo and about how when I was here a year ago and we drove to Canberra I stared into the fields along the road for 3 hours because James said they are sometimes in the fields, (I did not see a single one and gave up for the ride back, but of course...James saw one.) Well, regardless they said that I would most definitely see one on the drive back to the airport. I thought they were just giving me empty promises as I eagerly looked out the windows of the car. And then finally, I saw a troop of Kangaroos jumping and laying around together. It was definitely one of the highlights of my trip, even though they made fun of my amazement.

OK, well it is time for work for me in the land of tomorrow.

The Race That Stops The Nation

Well, hello there, fancy seeing you here. As you may have noticed, yes I have been absent in putting up new posts. This is not because I have nothing to say, I always have plenty to say. However, I have been pouring my brains onto paper the last week and a half in order to finish my first semester. Needless to say, after many late nights, lots of coffee, writers block, and finally getting somewhere I have finished and turned in all of my assignments. So let me get back to this post that I started composing a week ago, but did not have the brain space to finish composing it, so here we go.

Every first Tuesday of November is a very big deal in Australia. It is the Melbourne Cup. America has the Kentucky Derby, but the mania that ensues here is incomparable. The parties the festivities, the whole nation. Think about in the U.S. Superbowl day but the Superbowl parties on steroids with fancy outfits. The call it "the race that stops the nation," because, quite literally, everyone in the nation stops what they are doing and for those few minutes watches the big horse race. It does not matter whether or not people like horse racing, or gambling, I think the percentage of people not watching is under 10%. It is absolute insanity. I had work and class the day of the race, and I had to leave work right before the race started for my class. Everyone from work was sitting in the conference room watching the pre-race TV coverage on the projector, drinking beers, and eating snack food. I left and made it to class a few minutes before. My professor came in and said, "Help me get the race up on the screen." So even my whole class watched it before the lecture would start.

I was quite excited, it was one of the first cultural things I have experienced here. It was extremely hot that day about 100 degrees and 100% humidity, and my place is on the second floor with no air conditioning so about the same heat in my room as well. I still had a ton of papers to do and did not feel like suffering heat stroke, (OK, maybe I am being a bit over dramatic, but regardless I did not want to sit in my sauna of a room while I tried to focus on my paper.) So I went to James' apartment, it is always cool in there, plus he was gone and so it was nice and quiet. I was not looking forward to the hour commute into the city and then over the bridge on the bus. However, that bus ride regardless of heat was one of the neatest commutes I have ever had. I just stared out the window in amazement at all the beautiful outfits I saw on the ride. Everyone was dressed to the nines. Guys in suits, girls in beautiful dresses with hats or feathers in their hair. The whole time I was wishing that I did not have papers to write, because I wanted to be dressed up, or maybe I just wanted a feather in my hair. I walked around the city for a bit with a smile on my face and a look of amazement. I probably stood out like a sore thumb me, my yoga pants, and big back pack and everyone else in fancy dress. I might as well have had "amused American" written on my forehead.

Well maybe someday when I am no longer studying I will be able to actually make it to the races and put a big feather in my hair...until then I will just have to get one and run around my house with it on. Well have a pleasant today, while I have a pleasant tomorrow worry free from school.

OK Aragog, I Gave You Plenty of Warnings...Now it's War!

Well, as I have been keeping you updated on the spider situation down under, I would like to tell you I am declaring a state of emergency. When I first moved here I wrote a plea to Aragog too keep his fury eight legged friends outside of the dwellings that I would be inhabiting. So far he unleashed an early attack with one of his soldiers, far before the normal huntsman season. Then he had one of his slightly smaller, yet hairier, and more poisonous soldiers crawl across my foot in a vehicle. Now, he unleashed another soldier into James' house, while he was not here, and my spider fear was ultra vulnerable.

It was about 100 degrees today, and very high humidity. Once I got off work and class, I decided that since it was nearly that hot in my room, I had nothing to do tomorrow and, I have many papers to work on I would come to James' house. He is at sea and his house stays nice and cool, and is quiet with very little distractions. Well, tonight after dinner it got dark and the wind started blowing. There was a loud clunk outside and I got nervous so I went to the back door to lock it, peered outside thinking I might see the boogy man (well not really, but I have an active imagination, so I imagined it for a minute) and instead I saw something much worse hiding behind the curtain....a huntsman. My heart nearly flew out of my chest and I had to quickly re-group. I knew I had two options:
1. Grab all of my stuff and leave James' house abandoned with all the lights on and not come back until he was here to take care of it.
2. Actually get myself together and kill the ninja soldier.
I quickly assessed the options and came to the conclusion that James would not appreciate me leaving all of his lights and TV on for a week. Also, the spider was near the door entrance so I was going to have to encounter it in either option. I choose option 2. So I ran to the kitchen got the biggest can of bug spray I could find, grabbed James' biggest flip flop and braced myself for action. I started spraying the spider but it did nothing but make him run faster towards the opening under the couch. So I smashed him as hard as I could with the thong before he could make it under the couch and I would be paranoid all night long until he reappeared and I had another heart attack. Then I swept his body up in the dustpan and threw it into the garden as a warning to his spider friends.

I am trying to recover now with a cup of tea, not until after I searched every nook and cranny I could think of for spiders to try to limit my paranoia for the rest of the night. I sure hope I can fall asleep tonight...I was feeling tired before, but now I am wiiiiiide awake, and I have the itchy heebie jeebies.

I think I need to get a pocket sized can of spider spray, because this is officially war. I made a clear cut agreement with Aragog, keep your spiders outside and I will leave them alone. So far this year, I have seen far more spiders inside houses than I have outside. This is on like donkey kong, Aragog you are going down!

Tony the Tigerrrrrrr

Well, hello there. How are you yesterday?

As I am sure you are all aware, Halloween was two days ago for me, one day for you. I was indeed Tony the Tiger. It was rather funny because people either got it right away or it took them about an hour and would then tell me it was GREAATTTTT! It was a good conversation starter, however, I did have to live through a conversation about cereal with a boring guy who was explaining to me the different cereals he liked at different ages...blah blah blah, I don't want your cereal history buddy. Also, I found out that in Spain they call him Tigertone, which translates loosely to big happy tiger. Regardless here are some pictures:

THEY'RE GREEAATTTT!!!!

And part of a nutritous breakfast...well kind of.

Here is the gang from left to right: the dude from some movie I have never seen, a mummy, a girl who put on some wings, Lizzy the sheriff, me Tony, Cassi the other sheriff, Jen the costume that kept changing (she was first a 50's pin up girl, then cabaret, then a trapeze artist) and Louise as Popeye.

It was all GREAAATTTT fun!

Land Down Under!

I have a new favourite thing to make me laugh since being here. If I am ever feeling down or unmotivated I watch this music video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McsWKczU6wc&feature=related

You should watch it and laugh. It is the music video for the song "I come from a land down under." My favourite highlights:

1. The guy sitting in the tree playing the flute to the stuffed koala hanging by a rope.
2. Them bouncing away like kangaroos in the sand.
3. The end where they are marching through the sand and still dragging the stuffed koala.

I hope this brightens your tomorrow, because it brightened my today!

They're GREAT!

Well, as you are all aware it is that time of year again...Halloween. This means a few things:
1. It will snow in Colorado (congratulations Papa, you will win the bet with the car dealership)
2. College campuses will be clogged with girls dressed as their rendition of a sexy whatever they are supposed to be. (ie-sexy nurse, sexy red riding hood, I even saw a sexy nun costume...)
3. I shall indubitably come up with my own wacky silly costume (last year I was quite literally Lacey Walker...dressed in lace with a walking stick.)

This year I have devised an awesome costume. I am going to be tony the tiger busting out of a box of frosted flakes! I have already warned my friends that they will have to tolerate my constant throaty rumble of, "THEY'RE GREAT!" (As a side note, they do have frosted flakes here, but they call them Frosties.)

I think this costume is great for several reasons:

1. It makes me laugh.
2. I get to play dress up.
3. The total thing cost less than $10 to make.
4. I got to do an art project which made me happy.

So I bought some cheap tiger ears, some face paint, and poster-board. I have taken pictures of the creation of a Frosted Flakes box:

This is all I have for now, but come Halloween night I will take a picture of me in the box and put it up. Hooray for art projects, I am happy with the result but bit sad that it is over, much like a good book.