The Abandoned Suitcase Bomb Scare

Last night was a very amusing night at my apartment complex. A combination of boredom, over caution, and over empowerment of security guards, caused my complex to have a "bomb " scare. Now before I tell this story from my funny point of view realise that I think bombs are very serious and very scary, however, this situation was not serious or scary, even though the security guards sure seemed to think so. It is mid-semester in the land down under, and for my complex that means new students moving in, and moving out. Well obviously in a moving quest someone left their suitcase out in the courtyard, which triggered a "bomb" scare. Let me note that there is an anti-terrorism campaign here similar to the states, "If you see something, say something," and some people are obviously taking this a wee bit too serious.

I heard yelling last night from the security guards, saying "YOU CAN'T COME THROUGH HERE STAY AWAY." Of course having nosey neighbor syndrome I had to go snoop it out, (hey you can't blame me, I have fond memories of spying on our creepy neighbors down the road with my Dad and a pair of binoculars, does that make us creepy neighbors...?) Regardless, I went outside and found that the security guards had made a human barrier around the suitcase and were not letting anyone near it and they said they had called the bomb squad(let me also note that this was a very large suitcase and they were only standing about 20 feet away from it...if it indeed were a bomb, that would not have been a good idea, because it would have been a big one to fit in there.) This silly red suit case sat there inconspicuously, and no one could seem to understand why they could not go near it, but the security guards were SERIOUS. After several minutes laughing at the dramatics of the guards and wishing for the person to which the suitcase belonged to realise it was missing and come collect it in an embarrassed manner, the cops showed up. As the cops approached the threat I could tell from their body language they really couldn't believe they had been called to a "bomb" scare for a suitcase. The walked up to it, examined it with flashlights and then one shrugged at the other and opened it up. (Ohhhh the suspense was killing me, was it going to be a bomb, drugs, a puppy?!) Inside the suitcase the cops found a very threatening pillow and some shoes (I suppose the stilettos could have taken an eye out if hurled directly at the face, but they were going no where just sitting in the suitcase by the stairs.) At this point I was trying to control my hysterical laughter with one of my roommates. The "bomb" aka red suitcase was then escorted into the building as the security guards assured themselves they had done the right thing by patting each other on the back and saying, "we did the right thing, we did the right thing."

I guess the moral of the story is better safe than sorry and beware of red suitcases. If nothing else it surely made my night and I am sure their night much more exciting.

I Graduated Hogwarts

It has been a long and difficult journey, between my broomstick lessons, having Snape give me a hard time in potions, and constantly battling Aragog to keep his spider army men away from me at times I thought I would never make it. Well boo on you Harry Potter villains I did it!

Louise and I walked these hallowed halls for a year in hopes of completing our wizardry tests and becoming real witches. Who knew with all this muggle blood we would be able to do it. On this day of graduation we were finally able to show ourselves in our true attire and form, because on this day were were officially magical.

On graduation day Louise and I battled our academic attire to try and make the hoods stay on, we battled the flapping robes, and we battled the hordes of family members taking pictures of the grads. Thank goodness for Louise, we had each other to share the moment, so instead of having a little pity party for ourselves, we made light of the situation and started taking pictures of the picture takers. There was one crazed family member who kept running into the professional photographers shot just so she could get the right angle. Taking the one big photo of all the grads was similar to herding kittens.

After the photos, pastries and tea it was time for some real graduation fun. I mean come on those outfits were practically begging for play time. I was already pretending to be Harry Potter, (but I forgot my wand, broomstick, and lightening scar,) regardless I was still try pretending. But then as I am sure you can imagine the impressions continued first I was Dracula...

"I vant to suck your blooood."

And Louise was Superman!

And then I was Batman..."Dun nun nun nun nun nun BATMAN!"

And of course Louise made an appearance as her true self...LORD VOLDEMORT! (Oh no! I said the name that must not be said, I hope she doesn't come and find me.

On a more serious note than all of the playing around (even though that was super awesome,) Louise and I came, we saw, we concurred. I could not have done this without the support of my awesome family and friends and especially without Louise to read my essays, and go to class with me and always be there. No matter what people say Lord Voldemort is not bad, she is very very good and I hope she shakes that Slytherin house and comes and joins Gryffindor with me.

So HOOOORAYYYY!!!! (Or in the crazy spelling of Dutch sounds, in honour of Louise Hoooraiiiiii! or something like that.)

p.s.
Hats off to all of my supporters, without the love and support of family and friends achievements like this would mean nothing. I am very lucky to have you all.

The Taste of Independence

Did you know that a good 'ol PB&J is not well known, and in fact it often brings about a reaction to other cultures that would be similar to suggesting a typical American to eat fried cow brain (I don't even know if that is a dish, but hey I got the reaction out of you that I wanted didn't I?) I only recently found out that around the world peanut butter and jelly do not go together like, well as we would say peanut butter and jelly. I have discovered two reasons behind this.

1. This is simple, it is merely because no one has tried it, and the strange and new sound of sweet and savoury together does not appeal to most non-Americans.

2. Terminology. In Australia specifically when peanut butter and jelly is mentioned, they do not think of some nice soft bread with a layer of peanut butter and a layer of sweet smooth jelly or jam spread between. Nope, here jelly is what we call Jell-O. So when we say we want a PB&J they likely get the picture of a big lime green Jell-O mold filled with peanut butter, even I am grossed out by that.

Therefore, I have set out to right these two wrongs and bring PB&J's to the world over, one office at a time. Being the token American at my office (my bosses are American too, but as I am not the boss, I am an easier target,) I can catch a lot of flack about my accent, and curious questions. For the most part they are very innocent and curious and actually want to learn the ways of America. So upon educating them about the correct PB&J I was met with a curious fascination. In honour of the 4th of July, my office mates wanted to help me celebrate so they brought in American treats such as Oreos and bagels. I brought in the supplies for PB&J. After a little futile resistance I was able to talk a few people into trying my "strange" concoction. To their surprise, (not mine) they actually liked it! So go America and go PB&J, this sweet savoury phenomenon will be sweeping the world soon (don't even think about trying to ride on the coat tails of my success Vegemite...that is not the same thing at all.)

U.S.A. Day in Oz

HAPPY LATE 4TH!!!!!

Cassi and I had our home on our sleeves on the Fourth (well actually our shirts, but hey we tried.) As we were longing for some American BBQ and fireworks we decided to take matters into our own hands. Cassi's BF(not best friend, that is me, and the correct abbreviation would be BFF-Best Friends Forever, I did not actually get permission from her to call myself that in relation to her so shhhh, don't tell her I don't want to get my feelings hurt when I find out this is not true,) anyways, her boyfriend(for those of you her are not/do not have the mentality of a 14 year old texter,) was supposed to bring us USA t-shirts from Walmart. How much more American could we get, supporting Walmart and the USA (please no-one mention the fact that on the inside of these shirts the likely hood of a tag stating they were made in China, that would ruin the whole purpose of this post so forget I mentioned it.) However, to all of our misfortune, his domestic flight was delayed causing him to miss his flight to Sydney for the 4th...so as they say, "when times are tough the tough get going." Well we didn't exactly get going, it was more like I had a major headache and couldn't sleep so I got crafty, so in this case, "when times are inconvenienced the sleepless get crafty." We had to improvise a little makeshift American spirit, because we wanted to show this country how proud we were. So.....

Cassi painted her nails in honour of the U.S. of A! Red and blue with white stars, go America!

And I handcrafted us American flags from random scraps to pin to our most patriotic coloured clothing. (Take that Walmart, not made in China, this was made by an American.)

And we set out to have a good 'ol fashion American BBQ using the wonderful BBQ my Dad got me for Christmas. (Caution do not stare at food pictures for too long, salivation may occur...too bad I don't have a bell, then I could train you like Pavlov's dogs, and no that is not an insult, merely a science reference.)

We had yummy burgers mmmmmmmmm beef.

And potato salad yummmmm.

And the American-ness of the next treat is up for debate however, they usually make an appearance at BBQ's so I made some yummy deviled eggs just like my Mama makes 'em.

We had a wonderful 4th because we have spirit (yes we do! we have spirit how 'bout you?!) This was even in spite of the fact that were were missing our small towns, the summer air and our families, but at least we had each other, oh yeah and yummy food. I hope everyone of yesterday enjoyed their holiday weekend and I look forward to spending the next one with you.

Drive on the Left?

Well as I have told you I drove The Great Ocean Road, and yes I really drove. For all of you who are concerned about my ability to stay on the correct side of the road being a right hand side driver as well as my issues with remembering what country I am in, you need not worry. Australia took care of that problem for me by putting up signs all along the road reminding me "drive on left in Australia." See see, on the left:

This made me laugh because obviously there were enough incidents with foreigners driving on the wrong side of the road that the government deemed it necessary to re-orient people to where they were. My favourite part is that the sign actually says, "in Australia." As if they are afraid someone might go home and then sue them for driving on the wrong side of the road because the sign did not clearly explain that it was in Australia specifically. I also enjoyed this because it is helpful to those who have short term memory loss (or long term depending on how long you have been in Australia,) every time you read the sign you are reminded where you are. Who am I, where am I, why am I driving. Maybe the government should be more concerned with keeping such disoriented people off the roads rather than just posting up signs...

Hook Turns?

A little more on the subject of the Melbin (Melbourne) trip, but more in the ways of crazy Australian driving and street signs. Let me introduce you to the hook turn:

No this is not a driving maneuver executed by Captain Hook, however, I think that would almost make more sense than the real explanation. The streets of Melbourne seem to be more peaceful than Sydney: they are significantly wider, void of potholes, straight, and not to mention the drivers seem more at ease, or at least less aggressive. However, despite the lack of road rage, honking horns, and race car driving their streets are made complicated to navigate due to their tram system. Down the center of the streets in Melbin they have tram lines, which greatly complicates the simple driving task of completing a right hand turn(for the right hand side drivers this is the equivalent of a left hand turn.) These trams equal a lack of right hand turn lanes, because that is where they run. To avoid motorists from being squished from oncoming trams they have devised the hook turn. This requires you to pull the very outside left lane (or equivalent right lane,) to wait to make your turn, then you must execute the turn facing traffic and trams from both directions. If you are still confused, I recommend building a model, you can make it more realistic by adding nerves, unsure driving directions, and the pressure of turning traffic lights.

I hope you enjoy that driving food for thought and get ready for the next tidbit about driving on The Great Ocean Road, coming to a Blog near you soon (aka-this one and directly after this blog.)

The GRRRRRREAT Ocean Road

This weekend I went to The Great Ocean Road and it was A-mazing. Flew into Melbourne....everyone says Melbourne is great, it was a nice city, but just a city. The little towns along the way, the road, and the scenery were absolutely wonderful and fantastic, and, and, and, I wanna go back right now! (Whew let me catch my breath, I got a little too excited there.)

OK Melbourne first. For all you non-Aussies, allow me to clarify something about the pronunciation of this city. Yes, yes I know that it seems as if it would be pronounced mel-born, due to the spelling. But nooooooo silly Aussies make fun of you if you pronounce it as it is spelled. Plus they over exaggerate it so that the impersonation is as if I were from Texas (mel-bOURRRRN,) but I digress. So if you ever talk about this city don't pronounce all the letters just simply say Mel-bin. I think that originally they spelled the city as Melbin, and so they pronounce it that way, but some joker had a great idea, "hey guys you wanna know how we can mess with tourists, lets make the spellings of our cities more complicated and then make fun of the foreigners when they try to pronounce the names." Real funny jokester, reallll funny.

Here is Melbin, see it looks like pretty much any other city, big buildings, skylines, people....

OK enough about Melbin the city, lets move onto the Great Ocean Road, I now know why they called it the Great Ocean Road and not the Good Ocean Road. It is more than good it's GRRRREEAAAT, just like Frosted Flakes (an American cereal commercial reference for the non-yanks, YouTube Tony the Tiger if you are curious.) The road winds along the stunning coast for several hundred kilometers. The first leg was done mainly at night, so the coast was not visible besides the moon shining on the water.....BUT I DID SEE A KOALA! This little guy wandered across the road and then was confused when he couldn't get any further, sorry buddy no eucalyptus leaves for you. On a side note I have also after close observation of this creature decided that Disney stole the idea for Stitch from a Koala.

Along the road there were so many beaches, so of course I had to indulge my childish impulses and run along the beach and let the water chase me. This is Bells Beach, the beach featured in the motion picture Point Break(which I have not actually seen, because I never see movies, but this is what I have been told.)

After driving on the windy roads for several hours, vrooom vrooom vroom, finally there was victory!(And yes I actually did drive, it was fun, windy roads, beautiful scenery, however the pathetic part is that I have not driven in so long that my arms were sore for the next two days....) The 12 Apostles! Soooo beautiful.

By the way it was very windy......just in case you couldn't tell.

More Apostles, the water surrounding them is a breath taking colour. It was also so windy that as the waves would break mist would fly off the waves and create little rainbows...it was simply stunning. (Hey Granny I think you should paint this for me!)

The little towns along the way were adorable, with hotels that were actually houses, views of the water, and little cafes using ingredients grown and made locally. If you are ever in the Southern Hemisphere, the Great Ocean Road is a must for both windy road enthusiasts(p.s. expect more posts regarding driving), scenery enthusiasts, or quaint little town enthusiasts. I wanna go back right now! OK well I am off to pout about not being there anymore I hope you are having a wonderful yesterday or today!

Mr. "Platypus"

OK "platypus" update. As you know I have long been sleuthing out this so called "platypus" that Australia claims to have. Most recently Cassi claimed to have seen one in the wild, I prefer to be a realist and call it what it really was, black magic.

Well, after her supposed sighting of the "platypus" I decided to do my own reconnaissance at the zoo aka the original scenes of the missing "platypus" crime. Well at the zoo, I did indeed see a "platypus." It did indeed appear to have the tail of a beaver, the bill of a duck, the fur of a mammal and swim like a fish. I did not see it lay any eggs or stab anything with its poisonous claw so I cannot attest for those myths. I would love to show you the "proof" of the "platypus" however, every picture I tried to take turned out blurry. Either the zoo just puts optical illusions up so that no one can really be certain it is a platypus, or it is just a movie clip being played of the mythical creature swimming round and round. You see at the zoo, the "platypus" viewing area is in a dark hut, in a dark aquarium, and you are not allowed to use flash photography because the platypus has sensitive eyes.

Despite the possible trickery I am beginning to doubt my original theory that the "platypus" is about as real as a jackalope, they may indeed exist, however, I am not completely convinced. At this point it has only been bumped up to Big Foot and Nessie status. This is based on two theories I have(I am heavily leaning towards the second.)

Theory 1:
The "platypus", Big Foot, and good 'ol Nessie are not real, they are merely the product of random gusts of wind, trick photography, wackos and photoshop.

Theory 2:
All three of these creatures are in fact real. However, our perception of them is skewed. We all tend to believe that all of these photos are fake based on the blurriness of the creature. Maybe we should take a different view. I am starting to think that instead of an unsteady hand not being able to focus the camera due to excitement, we have it all wrong. These creatures have one thing in common, their blurriness. Each of these creatures is not mythical, instead they are just a new phenomena of the Animalia kingdom, light bending attributes that create the illusion of blurriness. Only our eyes have only been deceived, we have not in fact been deceived by our fellow Homo sapiens.

I hope to conclusively prove either of my theories before I leave Australia, therefore I must get back to my sleuthing. I hope you are having a wonderful yesterday.

An Unjust World and the Platypus

Today I realised just how much the world despises me. This whole life is absolutely unjust. Don't worry I not about to start on some feminist rant about the glass ceiling or double standards, no this is something much bigger than that and it finally deserves some recognition.

I have been below the Equator for nearly a whole year. And during this time I have made an oath to find the promiscuous platypus (you might remember my earlier post regarding the elusive "platypus" at the Zoo, aka the one I think doesn't exist.) Well, I have been to the zoo on two separate occasions and both times the platypus was conveniently "not in sight," or as I would prefer to believe just a mythic creature. I mean come on who really thinks that there is an animal that has the beak of a bird, the tail of a beaver, venom in its hind foot, and oh yeah we are also supposed to believe it is a mammal that lays eggs. Good one super scientist jokers, after we find the elusive platypus maybe we should go snipe hunting then we can catch a jackalope, and to top it off we shall re-fill our blinker fluid.

Well today the universe decided to play a sick joke on me. While Cassi was off gallivanting with her Mom and Brother, she managed to message me saying that she saw a platypus in the wild and in fact they are real. I refuse to believe this for several reasons. 1. I did not see it with my own eyes. 2. I have been super sleuthing at the zoo and I have not seen one. 3. Come on really a platypus see my reasons for why we should not believe that such a mythical creature exists. I think instead of Cassi really seeing one in the wild, she was actually bewitched by the pranking gods in an effort to help convince me that they do indeed exist. Well I am just not falling for it so thank you, come again.

Oh yeah and just so you know the plural of platypus is not platypi, it is merely platypuses or just platypus. This is also further proof it doesn't exist because you don't need proper pluralisation for a non-existent creature.

Free Style Rappin' in the Stair Well

Now I hope I did not get you too excited with the title of that blog, unfortunately there shall be no freestyle rapping coming from Lacey (otherwise known as L-Dog.) Instead I would like to share with you a tidbit of the delightful things I hear just right outside my window.

Let me pre-face this entertaining diddy with the explanation that outside of my window there is another building and directly across from me, I am ever so fortunate to have to the stairwell to said building. (I sure hope you picked up the heavy sarcasm in that last statement.) Now why oh why would a stairwell bother me so much? Hmmmm well that is because no one actually uses it as a stairwell. Instead the late night drunken smokers use it to talk too loudly, and there are a pair of super awesome free-style rappers who occasionally make a celebrity appearance. In other words it is noisy.

But you know what they say, "when life gives you lemons make lemonade." So thankfully, sometimes I actually listen to what these mystery people are saying...and boy oh boy some of their conversations and/or raps are absolutely priceless. Just the other day as the one rapper was spittin' it hard (I assume that would be similar to the super awesome gangster slang they would use,) and stopped for a bit of a break the other gangsta homie said to him, "Yo man you need an energy drink? Just tell me and I will get you one." Then Gangster A must have agreed to wanting an energy drink, because Gangster B disappeared in what I assume was an attempt to fetch his fellow homie an energy drink (I am wondering if this was a special energy drink...maybe made to enhance rapping abilities, but I doubt it, and regardless I do not condone performance enhancing drugs.)

Today I overheard my favourite to-date free style rap from one of the gangtsers. It went a little something like this... (p.s. please excuse poor spelling I am going to write this as if it were being literally pronounced as he did this, so basically how I typed before Hooked On Phonics.)

"....I'm juss spittin my flow, thatz how i gunna roll, I am legend and can make two words rhyme that are spelled different, cause there different-ed, yeah en-ted (made mouth sounds here like pshhhs kshsh, pshshshspshs)...awww man %&$!."

Epic fail...couldn't even come up with a rhyme after that legendary claim. Well here let me help you out. I have a few words that rhyme and in fact sound pretty much the same and are spelled differently buddy.

too-to-two
their, there, they're
harbor-harbour
defence-defense
affect-effect
aunt-ant

Yeah, that's right buddy I just beat you with semantics, not your lame antics, but don't get frantic, just take a trip to the Atlantic.... Yeah Yeah Yeah....(insert more awesome mouth sounds...) Don't mess with me buddy you don't even know. That's right I owned a rhyming dictionary until I was 12.

So for future reference, nothing rhymes with orange, don't even go there.

International Relations

Let me first say that I have been attempting to post a blog for a few days right now. It features a video...and my wonderful firewall blocked university Internet is making it impossible to upload the blog. So as soon as I can I shall find some other Internet source so that I can make your video dreams come true(OK so they might be my video dreams, but hey at least you will be able to watch.)

Now on the real business of the blog. Last night, was an interesting night at the pub. With my friend Louise we met at the same place and both of us were accompanied by our flatmates....unfortunately our flatmates were accompanied by other groups... Louise is my most open and honest straight shooting Dutch friend (let's never mind the part about her being my only Dutch friend, because she is still the most straight shooting friend I have.) At some point in the evening, I witnessed something I never expected to see...a person able to get under her skin. After a long drawn out argument over whether Amsterdam should really be the capital of Holland we decided to excuse ourselves and meet up with her flatmate and his group of crazy French friends.

Not but 30 seconds after meeting them the French Inquisition of 2010 began. Every possible question about America was fired at me from all angles (literally standing in a circle with 7 French guys and all of them asking me questions simultaneously.) They wanted to know: who the Denver Nuggets were, if the Rocky Mountains were really rocky, whether I skied or snow boarded(man oh man were they disappointed when I said neither,) if I liked Obama or Bush, was I Democrat or Republican, why was Colorado shaped like a square, were there Amish in Colorado, was I Amish. Well never to worry Lacey the International Relations Superhero has solved all of the mystery's of the French Inquisition of 2010. You will be happy to know that the French now know that. Colorado is in fact actually the entire United States, contrary to popular belief our continent is just one big square that is Colorado. The Denver Nuggets were named after McDonald's Chicken McNuggets. The Rockies are indeed rocky, as well as a baseball team. I was not in fact Amish, but instead of a lesser known religion called Squamish. That Colorado was square because it was previously stored in box before being ratified as a state in 1876. But most importantly I also told them they are now called freedom fries and not French fries...so yeah, look who told them.

Needless to say Louise and I sadly had to part ways as she did not feel like any more debate on the capital of Holland, and I needed to escape the French Inquisition of 2010.

Don't worry I shall go on to spread the true word of the great and mighty United States of Colorado...well at least when I feel overwhelmed by accents and rapid fire questions (damn my security blanket called sarcasm.)

Signing out from the future, may the force be with you.

Combat Boots to Combat the Day

When I was growing up my Mom was always wearing combat boots. Sometimes she wore some super cute heels or sandals (you can't blame a girl for wanting some cute shoes at times.) But most of the time it was combat boots, no matter the outfit: shorts, jeans, or sun dresses. She used to say it was so she could take on the day, every morning put on your combat boots and go into battle. I never really understood it at the time, but as I am starting to face more real world issues, I am starting to understand(you know that whole growing up and actually having to enter the real world and job market, I am kind of running out of educational excuses to avoid the real world any longer.) So I went out and bought a pair of semi-combat boots. So now I wake up in the morning and am ready to start 'kickin' ass and takin' names (yes I have deemed it appropriate to use the word ass considering the fact that a recent popular movie on billboards everywhere near you was titled 'Kickass'.) Just in case you need to see these kickass boots here they are in all their combatish glory:

Oh yeah and here is me trying to pretend like I really know how to 'kick ass and take names.' Don't worry, I know how weak my aggressive face is(it was either this one or resembling some strange twisted roaring like a lion face)...I am working on that.

Well I need to go kick another assignment's butt, so maybe I should put on my boots for some major essay writing. I hope everyone is having a pleasant yesterday or today.

Brrrrrrrrr?

Soooooo... even though many of you in the Northern Hemisphere may be experiencing the change from Winter to Summer (with the exception of the manic summer/snowy days of Colorado,) it is turning into 'Winter' here in the Southern Hemisphere. If you notices I have specifically labeled the term 'Winter' using quotes, for the purpose of this blog I shall continue to do so. It is now well past the sweltering days of summer and some of the leaves are departing the trees, however, it is far from being cold or even 'Winter'. Most days it is still weather acceptable to throw on a tank top and flip-flops(please don't forget pants either, they were implied in the statement, but I don't want anyone walking around committing a social taboo) with a sweater just in case. The sun is still out and the birds are chirping. As a matter of fact yesterday it got to a very nice 26 C(so using the simple trick of x2 add...oh who am I kidding google here I come) that would be 78.8F. Yet still when I was walking to work and it was a little cooler, maybe around 60F, everyone was all bundled up like it was 'Winter' in their pea coats and scarves. It made me giggle a bit. Then talking to my roommate about the upcoming chilly weather the next day, a freezing high of 19C(aka a chilly 66F), she began to nearly shiver at the thought.

On that same note it is a little under 50F right now, and since we don't have any heating and I am a hypocrite I am a bit cold. So I am going to throw on another blanket and think about buying some cute boots to wear during this 'Winter' season.

ANZAC Day = Beyond Early Wake Up Call

Greetings, yes I know it has been a long time and it is time to finally dust off the old blog typing skills and for a good reason, to share some splendid cultural experiences. The most recent Australian cultural event I have attended was ANZAC Day (yes I know this is late, but better late than never, right?)

Let me give you a little background about this day(for all my homeland readers.) First of all ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. This holiday occurs on April 25th and is a commemorative day for the Australian and New Zealand groups who landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915 during the WWI. These brave soldiers landed at Gallipoli at approximately 4:15AM (yes that might sound like a random fact, but believe me, it is an important one to the current holiday proceedings and my ANZAC day adventure.) Not only does this holiday commemorate these specific troops but it also honors all previous and current serving military personnel, it is a way of thanking them and quite inspiring.

Let me tell you a little about my experience of ANZAC day....

I was really excited about attending a real Australian experience and so I kept asking for details about the Dawn Service that kicks the holiday off and people kept telling me, well it starts really early I am not sure if you are going to want to go. So I thought, oh come on, the sun doesn't rise until about 6:00AM right now, one early morning is not going to kill me....well I was a bit off with the start time. Remember how I said that the troops landed at 4:15AM, well, that is when this holiday starts. I guess the founders of the holiday really wanted everyone to get the true experience of being up and at 'em like the soldiers at 4:15AM, because the Dawn Service for the day starts promptly at that time. Don't get me wrong it was a wonderful experience and I would do it again in a second, however, I must say that going to bed at 9PM and setting my alarm to wake up at 2:45AM.....that part was a bit odd. It was also a bit odd walking through the city in the middle of night to meet my group and seeing an odd mixture of very composed and neatly dressed military personnel combined with the sloppy drunks who were still stumbling about from the current night. Here is me trying my best to look semi-awake before 4:00AM....

It was a raining morning(well I guess technically AM, but I would prefer to actually call it the middle of the night), the weather seemed to mirror the somber mood of the service.

Dawn Service was beautiful and had a wonderful atmosphere of national pride. I am sure the Australians especially the service members were having a feeling similar to the one I always get during the Olympics after one of our athletes wins a gold medal and as they stand on the podium our national anthem plays (oh come on, you know I am not the only cheese ball who gets goose bumps and teary eyes for that, you know what I am talking about.) This service was a wonderful mixture of hymns, bagpipes, and the Australian and New Zealand anthems.

After this service was over...aka before 6AM we headed to the RSL (aka The Returned and Services League) where there were more people lined up for beer than coffee. Did I fail to mention yet the early drinking that also occurs with this holiday. The rest of the day was filled with cheers, beers, and celebration. The whole city (well I am sure the whole country, however, I only experienced Sydney so I can only speak for that) was celebrating the servicemen and women who filled the streets. If one was visiting Australia and did not know about the holiday, they might think that the Australians were preparing for a war, as everywhere you looked their were war medals, uniforms and sailors caps. My favourite tribute to this was at a pub called The Three Wise Monkeys.

Allow me to make the painfully obvious statement of the Army speaks no evil, the Navy sees no evil, and the Air force hears no evil. But I digress, now that I have gotten stating the obvious out of my system on to more observations from the day.

Speaking to members of the Australian navy I have been given a few insights about the way that military is treated in Australia vs. America and I am slightly surprised. Members of the Australian Military really appreciate the American spirit of thankfulness of soldiers. The ones who have visited have said that Americans even hold a great deal of respect for foreign servicemen. I thought this was normal, but they explained that for the most part they are not allowed to wear their uniforms outside of work, and when they do they are often confronted with looks and sometimes disrespect. On the holiday I participated in I was walking with a group of gentlemen displaying their medals, and they didn't seem to know how to react when strangers thanked them for their services, that every other day of the year, they would not be given the same amount of respect. I find this contrast in the treatment of the military very strange considering that in the U.S. I believe their is a great amount of everyday pride in our military but, we do not have any specific holidays celebrating and truly praising all military personnel like ANZAC day did.

It was a long day, it was an inspirational day, and it was a great experience, even if I wanted to go to bed at 7PM. My overall impression of ANZAC day was a day filled with national pride and thanks. Everywhere you walked around on the street it was a sea of uniforms and medals. Well, yeah and in true Aussie tradition lots and lots of beer(why didn't I take a picture of that...that would have been a good insert in this blog, pictures of beer, well just use your imagination.)

Signing out from tomorrow hope you are having a pleasant today.

Sacrificial Bunnies

This blog is an extension of the Obesity Epidemic blog. Just so you can have a progress report of how our apartment is going in becoming big fat fattys. Actually, the chocolate eating has been slow going and I would like to announce no significant weight gain from our apartment. Regardless some of the bunnies have had to go...

In order to not get too sick of chocolate we have tried to get creative in our forms of eating chocolate. The most recent occasion called for chocolate fondue, and in order to please the fondue gods we had to sacrifice two of our finest bunnies. That night we said goodbye to our snow white bunny and one of our brown chubby bunnies. Don't worry their loss was not in vain, it satisfied 7 hungry girls and was celebrated amongst delicious dipping treats.

Let me present the tale of the sacrificial bunnies:

Hello little bunnies, don't be scared I am not going to hurt you.....

....muahahahahahaha you have fallen for my trickery, and now it will be off with your head (insert sword like slicing noise, or light saber, depending on your sound effect preference)!

Don't worry little bunny this will not hurt one bit....

Or maybe it will (I am not sure if chocolate has feelings, one would assume not, however, I know that bunnies have feelings, so that begs the question; do bunnies have feelings even if they are made of chocolate?) But I digress, back to the point, the little chocolate bunnies are on their way to delicious heaven.

After the breaking of the bunnies this was proceeded by evil cackling by Cassi and myself as we stirred our pots (for better mental visual effect now would be the time to picture us in black point hats stirring our metal cauldrons with giant spoons murmuring something about, "bubble, bubble, toil and trouble.")

OK now I think it is time to pretend that I did not just sacrifice two cute little chocolate bunnies and then talk about them as if I was an evil plotting bunny murderer, lets instead try not to creeped out by me and enjoy the fondue. Mmmmmm yummmmm mmmmmm, among the delicious things we dipped into our melted bunnies, I mean fondue, was: cheesecake, strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, and pretzels. Yes, I know, my mouth is watering too. It was a great and delicious night, even though we had to have a moment of silence for our poor little sacrificial bunnies, they went for a good cause.

The Saga of the Blue Dress

Before leaving Australia I came to possess a beautiful navy blue satin dress (quite fittingly navy blue for its original purposes which I shall explain in further details soon.) I had been dress shopping and was faced with my usual shopping dilemma, I didn't like anything, (I really think that they should just finally design The Lacey Store, where everything is exactly how I like it and just my size.) I had tried on a million dresses and was about to give up when my faithful and quite frustrated shopping companion aka Blaise said, "try this one on it is so pretty." I didn't have the heart to tell her (since I had already put her through picky Lacey shopping hell) that I was about to make fun of it for looking a bit like a blue mermaid hanging from the rack, so for amusement and appeasements sake I agreed to try it on. Me and my bad attitude entered the dressing room, but alas to my surprise I put it on and thought, "hey this is actually not terrible." Blaise absolutely loved it and seeing that it was the most desireable option I purchased it. My real love affair with the dress started when I tried it on for my Mom, who told me her favourite Paris Hilton quote, "that's hot," and proceeded to try to talk me into letting her borrow it already.

Now this was to be no ordinary dress, (well actually maybe, but in my mind everything always needs to be perfect and fit many different situations,) I had so many requirements and plans for this dress. Initially, the dress was purchased to wear at a fancy dress dinner for James' ship, hence the navy blue. However, due to sea schedules or something I can't remember at this point, the fancy dress dinner was not destined to be. The dress then had ongoing plans for a nice night at the theatre, but with work and school conflicts the dress moved further back in the wardrobe (well, not really considering I have a very small wardrobe in my room that does not allow for much movement of clothing, I am merely exaggerating for the sake of descriptive writing.) The dress then had a much more important and formal event to attend, James friends wedding in Malaysia. Alas still the dress was not meant to be due to the inflexibility of the navy and leave dates, so we could not attend, (shout out to Mr. and Mrs. Radford, sorry we couldn't be there it would have been lovely to meet you, p.s. I have been told that Mr. Radford reads my blog so a special shout out to him.) After all these cancellations the dress had started to feel unloved, and I thought that my love affair with the dress was just not destined to be. Until....drumrolllll...I actually got to wear the dress! A rare day was presented by the dress gods; both James and I could attend Wicked! The musical was fantastic, the performers were phenomenal, the singing exquisite, and the stage beautiful (a word of advice, don't read the book before seeing the play, as with most things the story in the book is so elaborate that there is no way to fit it into a short performance.)

Let me present you the main event of the hour...the blue dress:

I hope for many more happy years with this dress (figure and portion control permitting.)

Obesity Epidemic

If I am a big fat, fat, fatty the next time you see me this is a blog about the reason why:

Easter...(dun, dun, DUUUNNN)

I mean seriously check out the chocolate our house scored. There is enough to start an obesity epidemic in this apartment and also maybe some major cavity problems.

Yeah that's right, six giant Easter bunnies, two giant Easter eggs, and countless little eggy chocolates. I am getting a sugar rush just looking at this picture. Just in case you still don't understand, look at the size of this stuff:

I can't even get my hand around the egg, and the four giant Easter bunnies are even bigger. The worst part of this, is that this is only the main course of the Easter candies. We first had a friends Dad bring us a bunch of American Easter candies which we quickly devoured. Followed by Cassi's Mom sending us more, which were also quickly consumed. So after our first two appetizers of Easter candies you think we should be quite plumped and prepared. All I can say is that for once I am actually glad I did not receive a holiday package from my family in fear that it could have actually contained more Easter candy.

So far my main contribution has been eating this delicious milk chocolate Lindt bunny, well I have not devoured the whole thing, but pretty close and thinking of that also makes me feel a little queasy. This little bunny and it's smooth delicious chocolate never stood a chance.

I hope everyone in tomorrow and yesterland is having a wonderful Easter full of yummy food and great friends and family. I think I am going to have to put in a lot of good lap time in the pool in the near future. I fear that I am going to eat so much chocolate that it I will never again be able to enjoy the sweet smooth melting sensation that accompanies enjoying a nice piece of chocolate. Well either that or I shall join the obesity epidemic. At least I will be able to eat for free at the Heart Attack Grill (seriously, this place advertises and aims to make people fat, they let you eat for free if you weigh over 350 pounds, I can't make this stuff up, but that is a whole other can of worms that I don't have the energy to go into right now.)

Signing out from tomorrow land.

Rights

In the United States you have the right to:
-remain silent
-free speech
-religion

In Australia you have the right to:
-Coffee
-Tea

Coffee and tea are such a big part of life here, that it is practically a human right. There is a coffee shop everywhere you look, more than there are Starbucks in the States, and I have only seen one Starbucks since I have been here. At my new job, there is a coffee machine that makes lattes and cappuccinos(none of our drip coffee stuff :(). Not only that but they have a wide selection of teas as well. The kitchen here offers snacks, the snacks cost, but the drinks are free. It is perfectly acceptable at any point in the day to just go and get a warm beverage from the kitchen. So I think I might just grab myself some morning tea.
-From the land of tomorrow.

All Work and No Play Makes Lacey a Silly Girl

I suppose since now I have been working for a few weeks I should give you an update and tell you a little about what I do. The company I work for tracks advertisements for text message services. I am sure that you have either experienced or heard about someone who replied to a text message ad and then suddenly continued to receive useless annoying texts and your phone bill skyrocketed. Well there are rules and regulations that concern the advertisements so that they are not misleading and consumers can be aware of the unfortunate contract they are about to enter. I am currently working for the intercept department, so my job is to actually find advertisements. Sometimes it is a ton of fun and other times it is tedious, but overall I do enjoy it. So we search newspapers, magazines, online, and tv, to find these annoying advertisements.

When I am searching online I search everything text message. However, I have found that it actually works best when searching online to pretend as if you are a gullible young teenager. Basically do everything on the internet that common sense dictates that you should not. So I click on all of the things that pop-up on my computer. When I visit a site and a little box pops up telling me "Congratulations, you are the 2,345, 987,008th visitor to this site, click to collect your prize. " I enter my phone number and email address into suspicious looking forms. Well, not really my phone number but I have created a wonderful fake persona, who I have lovingly named Bimbo Bambi. I google random things that I think teenagers would want like, "does he like me." In return I am rewarded with these wonderful little quizzes that end into a prompt to enter my phone number to receive the information that it has to state is fictional.

Another entertaining part of the job is when I get to actually test these services. They really provide you pearls of wisdom in these services, great value for money (heavy sarcasm.) They cost up to $20 to sign up and then they charge you $10 or more a week to receive crappy text messages. My favourites are to text your partners name and your name to a number and they will tell you if it is a good love match. Then they don't even text you back with the results, but instead will respond with "advice." One said, "make your partner feel special, tell them that their words are your food and their breath is your wine." Thanks for that, I am sure that will surely help a relationship. My other favourite is the "sexy chats." They tell you to pick a girl (which we are convinced is just some photo they found on facebook and created a profile for) and you are supposed to text her name to a number. They try to make it seem like a real person at first, but they are not. Most commonly something like this will happen, the "girl" will text back, "I am so lonely want to exchange profile pictures?" We don't actually respond to this, but about 3 minutes later we still receive a message that reads, "I really liked your picture, want to see mine."

Basically, we are trying to make sure that at least a few people are saved from this text message smut. On the other hand, the people who actually respond to such prompts as, "Asian cuties, so cute, lonely and waiting for you," or think that they can really turn their phone into a mobile x-ray scanner, probably deserve to have to pay for it in premium text message charges.

p.s. I even had the pleasure of trying to order a Russian bride by text message the other day.
p.p.s. On a totally random note, Calamine lotion is purple not pink here.

I Really Wish That Were a Budgee Smuggler

Greetings,

For all of you non-Aussie familiars I am about to introduce some new Aussie slang. The budgee smuggler is what we would call banana hammock, or a Speedo. Wearing Speedos here is definitely more prevalent than in the United States. Especially, at the pool that I have started swimming laps at. Thankfully, this is not like at the beach in Mexico when you look over the beautiful horizon and right smack in the middle of the scenery is some over-weight hairy man spilling over his Speedo (yes, you are welcome for that visual, I know it is pretty.) Regardless, I excuse the use of the speedo when it is for fitness purposes, even though I am still not its biggest fan. However, today I had a thought that I hope I never have to have again...."I really wish that were a budgee smuggler."

As I was going about my fitness routine and swimming laps in a decently crowded lane, I found myself behind a man in a bright blue suit and a bright blue cap. As I am swimming behind him (he is doing the breast stroke, which unfortunately is already a fairly exposing stroke when seeing it behind,) anyways, as he is swimming I keep thinking, "man, that guy has a major wedgie." The further down the pool I get the more I wonder why he hasn't tried to fix it, that looks painful. It was some point about 10 seconds past that thought when I thought I might choke on the water and drown......THE GUY WAS WEARING A THONG. Seriously?!? If someone can explain that thought process, hmmmm I really want to go swim some laps in a public pool, maybe I should wear a thong so that I can expose myself to everyone and get a nice tan on my butt. I wanted soooo badly to turn to someone in my lane and ask if I was crazy or if he was really wearing a thong, I did not in fear that someone was with him, but the temptation was very real. For the rest of the work out I would have to take 'breathers' just to make sure he was far enough away that I would not have to laugh myself across the pool swimming behind him.

The moral of the story is:
Please, for the greater good of man kind, do not, I repeat, do not wear a thong when swimming for fitness.

Well as long as that visual is out of our heads, I am sure you will have a wonderful yesterday and I will have a great tomorrow.

Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, Minus the Arithmetic.

Greetings Yesterlings,

I am writing a letter to readers in my home country, the U. S. and of A. I am now a foreigner, well no not actually, but apparently in my writing I am. My Dad told me the other day that I had been slacking on checking for spelling errors in my blogs. I was a bit surprised, (because I usually do proof read these silly little rants, not to say that I don't make errors,) but I was under the impression that my late night postings had been proof read in a very sleep deprived manner. Therefore, I wrote a new blog, diligently proofed it, and yet my Dad said it still had errors. I asked for clarification and he said, "you don't spell favorite f-a-v-o-u-r-i-t-e." Well I hate to tell you but now I do, and not because I am just zany. Spelling is something I have never struggled with in my life except for in the past 8 or so months. Welcome to the British derived version of English. I get so confused about how I am spelling, and who I am spelling for that I have decided to just adapt to here, because I am being graded on things like spelling here, yet I still can't remember half the time what is spelled how and where. Most of the time the U.S. spelling makes more sense to me, so I usually try to just go with what seems less correct. Here are a few tips about spelling in British English:

1. Ad random u's to words, especially after a letter o, for example favourite or harbour. (Side note, I am typing this in a different browser to my usual, so my computer is currently in U.S. form so it is telling me as I 'misspell' things.)
2. Replace s's with c's. For example defense here is spelled defence. (Another side note, the first month that I dated James, I had little faith in his spelling capabilities because his emails were signed Department of Defence, only to find out the contrary, that he was indeed intelligent and proficient in spelling.)
3. Then there are words that I don't think I will ever stuff up who writes what on like, tire, here it is spelled with a y as in tyre. Nope that one is just not right it looks like it would sound like it was to be pronounced TIE-RAY.

OK that is all for my little rants at this point. I must actually get back to writing an essay in what James refers to as "the Queens English."

Sincerely,
Lacey from tomorrow.

Tuesdays=Long and Loony

My Tuesdays are now a bit hectic with my work and then class. Because of the wonderful Sydney public transport system(insert heavy sarcasm) I am not home until 10pm at night. My favourite part about the public transport is how much 15 minutes can change the entire timing. On my first day I left at 8:10am to be to my work at 9:00, as suggested by the trip planner provided. Instead of the plan going in accordance with the planner's suggestions, I watched as 6 crammed buses drove past and were too full to stop. The moral of the story is I had to catch a taxi to the train station and then squeeze on to just squeeze into work right on time. So the next day I left at 7:55 to have more time to watch the full buses pass, but leaving 15 minutes earlier means that no one has left yet, so I got straight on the bus and was to work at least 30 minutes early. Oh the wonders of 15 minutes. On a lighter note, I am really enjoying the job (well, the whole two days I have had of it, but I expect to continue to enjoy it as I continue to work.) On Tuesdays I have to go straight to the loony bin right after work. (No not because I am nutty, how many times do I have to tell you I am not that crazy.) This is for my class. The one great thing about the loony bin (aka-the abandoned psych hospital remodelled to be the Sydney College of Arts) is that there is a beautiful park in front of the building. So I sat and ate my yummy steak sandwich for dinner in the park (note to self, yes, I like beet root on things however, if needing to eat this in public or on the go, not a good idea unless I want purple everywhere.)

The park is full of stretches of grass, beautiful views of the city and wonderful trees.

The front of the loony bin, admissions are straight through the front doors.

The other good thing about being at the loony bin for a night class (no, not the creepiness or the ability to film a scary movie,) is that the sun sets beautifully over the palm trees.

I hope everyone is enjoying a nice, pleasant, and sane yesterday, other wise I may have to take you to class (cough, cough I mean my "appointments") at the loony bin.

Guess What!?

It is best to read the following blog to the Little Rascals tune, "I got a pickle." The little dance also enhances the experience because that is what I did as well.

"I got a job, I got a job, I got a job hey hey Hey HEY!"

I sang this song for my roommates but before I did I asked the if they had seen the movie. They said they had, yet they still gave me crazy looks after I sang the song (yes, crazier than normal looks.) Regardless, if this is an obscure reference you can update yourself by watching the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIm1A9x85lI

I will tell you more soon, or well sooner if you are in yesterday!

An Announcement

OK, I don't want to alarm anyone, but I need to make an important announcement. It is something of great pain to me. Everyone sit down, a moment of silence, a drum roll, I am not sure what is appropriate for this but:

Dad, you were right.

Oh the pain! The excruciating pain! I don't know how it could be true I am always right, what is happening, my world is turning upside down. (Well, actually it kind of is, I just came from the Norther Hemisphere to the Southern, but I digress.)

After being pestered by my Dad for photos of my place it made me realise that I have no photos of the area I am living in and they would be good to share and good for my memory. So the moral of the story is that yes Dad, I should stop procrastinating and take some pictures of scenery.

Look a bus stop! I am getting a little too familiar with those...

The architecture near where i live is a great mix of modern and older styles. They do try to keep in the same style and use brick on most things. This is a building that I pass on the walk to a friends house.

More mixing of architecture, it gives the area a neat personality.

Oh yeah and look cars driving on the other side of the road!

So Dad, reville in this moment, for I am finally admitting that I was wrong, even though I am always right. I hope everyone is having a pleasant yesterday. I must go to bed today/tomorrow

Won't You Be My Neighbour?

Well after months of pestering from my Dad, I have finally taken pictures of the complex I am living in. I have tried to explain to him that I was not procrastinating, because he loves that so much, but instead I was simply building anticipation. So drum roll please. dndndndndndndndndndnd(not really sure how to type a drum roll sound but that will work for these purposes.)

Allow me to take you on a walking tour of complex.

As you can see the complex is actually quite pretty with the brick buildings and vegetation planted all around. At some point during the year (I think Spring) those green bushes explode with pink flowers...it is absolutely beautiful. I am not going to reveal where among this complex I really live for fear of creepy internet stories I have been told, but curiosity can be directed to me for further information. See Dad I told you I would do it, it only took me several months to post this several minute blog, but the anticipation made it so much more exciting!

I hope everyone is having a pleasant yesterday.

A Trip to the Psych Ward...

Well we all knew the time would come where I would have to visit the psych ward. However, maybe not as many of you might have thought. (I may be a little nutty but I am not completely off my rocker, come on give me a little credit.) My first class of the year was held on a separate campus (The Sydney College of Arts Campus) which happens to be an old abandoned psych hospital. I would also like to point out that I do not especially appreciate having a seriously haunted looking place as the location for my latest night class, not exactly a warming feeling to go to bed to. The complex is locked up as if it were a psych ward, literally a security guard had to let us into the building and into the interior of the complex. Maybe they just make you stay if they think you are a bit too crazy and then they just never let you out. All I know is that as I walked through the closed corridors of this old hospital there was just no way to stop my imagination from thinking that the cast from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was watching around every corner.

Despite the eeriness of the location the class was actually quite good, I will be learning how to make animations, so that will be fun! I hope that everyone is feeling sane in yesterland.

The Lacey Leap

Once upon a time when I worked as a "student worker" for the UNLV Graduate College, I invented the Lacey Leap. One of my colleagues worked down a long hallway where her door was the only one. She had no way of knowing when someone was coming other than the sound of their shoes and she would try to learn every one's shoe sounds...well I always wore different shoes, so mine were hard to identify. However, I made sure to have signature sound in another way. I would get her attention by leaping past her door so she would always know I was there by the clomp, clomp sound of me landing from a leap.

Well, upon my re-visit to the Grad College this year, they decided they needed to document it. Therefore, I present to you and humiliate upon me....The Lacey Leap:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHJY8V-eOr8

OK, I think that is enough self-humiliation for the night. Signing out from the future.

Back To The Future

Whew, well I have successfully travelled back to the future, muah-hahahahaha. Seriously, I did, I really did. I left the states on the 23rd of February and I skipped right over the 24th, (which I am sure was not an exciting day, or well I sure hope so) and went straight to the exciting day of February 25th. Even though I am sure nothing special would have happened to me on February 24th.....however, I will always wonder what would have happened to me that day, but I digress.

I am very happy to be back in Sydney and trying to get excited about all of the studying I am going to start. It is good to have a purpose to look forward to, and oh yeah, I got an interview! Wish me luck :)

I had a wonderful time in the U.S. and here are a few of the highlights:

-All of the dogs, I miss all the furry creatures, their squeaky toys and playing fetch. You can see Mimi being very excited about my visit here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMLjhdDt9vo
-The kitty cat keeping my feet warm at night and her need of petting. As you can see at first she was not so sure about me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04OA5PPnKow
-Carcassonne wars with Dad.
-Cooking class with Granny.
-The miraculous fish resurrection at Brittany's. (I shall post video of this occurrence soon.)
-Family dinners.
-The meeting of the trio.
-Vegas with Ms. Bonney, Hunt-Higgins, and Wright!

And much much more. Stay tuned for more in depth postings about my adventures of the past in yesterland and the new upcoming adventures of the future!

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Coming back to my old room and Colorado in general usually inspires childhood memories. Well I stumbled upon this beauty while cleaning out my closet. I think that this is good solid proof that I should become an author. Let me present to you:

"Up In A Tree, What Do You See?"

I would like to also point out the awesome hippo's in the bathroom paper that I chose for the background of my first published book, I remember thinking how cool that was....and well now...

I took the tradition of most young authors and dedicated this book to my mom, I am sure she was so proud of this story, well maybe, but I know she pretended to be.

"Up in a tree, I see a bird!" OK, alright I am with me, there are a lot of birds in trees.

"Up in a tree, I see a flower!"...well yes I suppose there are some trees that have flowers...however, none that look like that flower, but I digress.

"Up in a tree, I see some grass!" Alright, well now I am starting to lose me here, there must have been some sort of strange circumstances involving the grass in the tree, maybe a tornado...

"Up in a tree, I saw a snowstorm!" Well, yes I suppose that you could see a snowstorm in a tree...not sure as to why you would want to sit in a tree during a snowstorm, but to each their own.

"Up in a tree, I see the letter J!" Hmmmm, no comment.

"Up in a tree, I see a nest!" Whew, thankfully, I am back on track now, a nest that makes sense, it even goes with the bird before.

"I see them all falling down!" Wowza, surprise ending, who saw that coming, not me and I even wrote it.

The End, well actually I seem to have written the end, which I am assuming means the same thing. My favourite part of this book is the about the author section, if you cannot read the print it says, "I really like people. I make lots of friends. I have a dog and a cat. I have some fish. I like to jump rope. I'm really good at that."

Well I hope you enjoyed this little walk down memory lane just as much as I did.