Deep Breath

You know how sometimes your life gets going so fast that your brain can’t keep up? I feel like the last few months have been that way for us. We’ve had so many guests in town (which has been wonderful!) and the major life changes continue to happen (will there ever be a time when things aren’t constantly changing?) I think sometimes it’s easy to let life just go on around you because you’re helpless to affect a change in the direction you’re going. Every now and again we’re blessed with a moment to slow down and enjoy what’s going on around us. This weekend was that experience for David and me – we finally took a deep breath and enjoyed just being together.

We celebrated Valentines Day this weekend because sadly, our first married Heart-Day was spent apart as I was in the US to mourn Gommy’s passing. The big guy in the sky helped her end her struggle with lung cancer and after 91 glorious, spunky, story-ridden years Gommy left us to be with Poppy. I hope the two of them (and Jim!) are up there watching over us and enjoying some time together. We will miss Gommy terribly. She was an inspirational woman. It’s easy to see her influence in her children and grandchildren – me included. I hope I can be just like her when I grow up.

So back to happy stuff – the deep breath weekend. We enjoyed a nice dinner out on Friday at a place called Wildfire in Circular Quay. The view would have been wonderful of the Opera House had it not been for the cruise ship in dock. The food was decent and the Super Tuscan the sommelier helped us choose was lovely. As with many restaurants in town this one was over-priced but we’d been talking about it for so long that we thought it was high time to try it. Saturday was spent exercising (well, for half of us anyway ;)) and gathering tax documents (YUCK! There’s got to be an easier way to go about this!) and then we ended the day at a Mexican fiesta hosted by Pete and Jude, friends we met through Janine and Niels. One too many margaritas later Pete and Jude’s son drove the 4 of us home and I was charged with running back to their house in the morning to pick up our car. It was a really fun evening!

Yesterday was wonderful. After going for a morning run I worked on finishing the 6 loads of laundry necessary each week since our washer only holds a handful of items at a time (!!) and we snuggled ourselves into the couch for some bonding – both with the shows we have taped and with each other! We didn’t leave the couch practically the entire day. It was glorious! Sometimes all it takes is a lazy Sunday to remind you of the connection you have with your partner. :)

I have big news about my job – I’ve been asked to manage the Account Management Team for the country! It’s similar to what I was doing with Iron Mountain back in the US but this time it’s on a much larger scale. It’s an interim role for the next 3-4 months. I’m grateful for the opportunity to test out the job for both parties. Things should get a bit busier for me over the next few months, to say the least!

We should have about a million stories to share with all the trips we have planned in the next 7 months. Can’t wait to experience this side of the world. What an adventure we’re about to take!

By the way, I’m listening to country music as I type this. Don’t tell David that he’s been such an influence on me! ;)

~LAA :)

Time to Catch Up....

Now this is what I call slacking...not in a good way though.  It’s been almost 3 months since we’ve blogged, and I can’t even say we.  Lindsey was holding the torch, and I’ve been slacking...time to catch up.

What has happened in the last three months...some good, some bad.  So what happened...Lindsey’s mom came to town :-)...I went to the US for a business trip and got terribly sick :-(...I also got to go to Japan for the first time :-)...my parents and sister came to town :-)...Lindsey went back to the US for her grandmothers passing :-( :-( :-(...Carrie and Greg came to town :-)  Lot happening.

I’ll see if I can cover some of the highlights.  To start Lindsey’s mom in town.  It was great having her here for the Holiday’s.  She got here a couple days after Christmas, and was here for 2 weeks...the highlight was new years. We didn’t do a good job this year of planning.  We kept changing our mind on what to do, so we had a little shin dig at our place with the three of us, the Seebeck’s and their parents.  In my opinion it worked out well...I think I lost track of the number of bottles of wine we opened, which probably had something to do with it, but we went to see the fire works at the Manly Wharf, and then watched the Sydney fire works at midnight on TV.  Still well worth it. My favourite night though was Garfish and a phenomenal bottle of Rusden Black Guts 2005 that Anne graciously picked up...WOW.  I’m officially a wine snob...I’m trying not to be, but I can’t help it. :-)

 After that, I was on my way to PGi’s (our new company brand) annual sales meeting.  I was a mess the entire time.  I got sick, and was out of commission most of this trip. Although, I still got my presentation out, and it went well.  The tough part was the next leg of my trip was to Japan for the first time. Being under the weather I didn’t explore much, but it was still great.  You may laugh, but my favourite part...there was a little udon noodles place (hole in the wall) across from the hotel and it was awesome.  Ate there 3 of the 5 nights I was there.  Awesome...couple things I did learn while I was there.  Wasabi in Japan is much stronger than it is anywhere else...I didn’t cry when I put it in my mouth, but I came close.  Also, I’m still looking for it, but there’s gotta be a Japanese proverb that says, “Don’t drink Sake with a Japanese man.”  I held my own, but it still wasn’t pretty :-)

How about the parents and sister...the thing I love about my family is they are very relaxed. Good food, good wine, sat around the house a bit...it was great.  Big thanks to Jacs (one of our Aussie friends that’s really from the US).  She was kind enough to take the family on a tour of the botanical gardens...normally I would hate something like that, but after hearing the stories I was actually interested. It’s just weird :-)

Anyway...I guess I should take a breather.  So much more to talk about, but it should give me an excuse to blog again. Good thing Lindsey’s here to keep me in line...at least that’s what she keeps telling me :-)

Hi to everyone back in the US, and stay tuned for more stories.  In the next 9 months we have 6 trips planned (Thailand, New Caledonia, Hong Kong, New Zealand...and more).  Can’t wait....