For those of you that actually read this, then I admit it… I am slack. Slack in a kind of
‘didn’t-have-time-due-to-work/family/house/puppy/just really wanted to bludge’ kind of way. So now that I have that out of the way, onto the summary of the past 5 months. Yes, it really has been that long. 5 months…. I’ll use point form so that it is easier for me to remember!
- We found termites in our house
- we had the termites removed and the house treated
- I decided not to study for a semester… and was glad!
- Went on a trip to Hong Kong to visit family and be tourists. We spent 2 weeks staying out in the New Territories, spending each day out and about. Every night we would return to our hotel around 9/10pm and just crash on the bed. I’m sure my fitness level increased although I don’t think I lost any weight due to the good food we were eating. We found this really cool all-you-can-eat sushi/sashimi place on Hong Kong island called Inaho-Tei I think. Awesome stuff! We did all the usual stuff as well like have Peking Duck and lots of yum cha. The main food/beverage complaint we had was the lack of anything resembling coffee at anywhere that was not American. If you wanted coffee you either had to buy the granules yourself, or else go to Macca’s or Starbucks. Anything else was just really weird. I survived on lemon iced tea or else canned Nescafe. I just love the Octopus card too! Hong Kong doesn’t seem to have an eftpos type system but with the Octopus card I don’t think they need to. I think it started out as a form of payment for transport (trains/trams/buses) that must have some sort of chip embedded in it since you just need to wave it over readers. We found that you could top up these at kiosks and 7-11 stores. You could also use them as a form of payment for vending machines and 7-11 stores too.
We went to visit Shenzhen a couple of times (just over the border into China) where we went clothes shopping and handbag shopping. I wanted to check out the electronics there but I found the people waaaaay too pushy. The main shopping centre we were in was about 5 stories high with these tiny shopfronts. The shop-keepers would stand in the middle of the walkway saying ‘Missy! Missy! Dvd?’ etc. At one point I said ‘I’m sorry, I don’t like Dvds.’ I think my sister nearly fell over at that! We found a tailor and had some clothing made to measure, which we then picked up another day. We spent another day travelling up to Victoria Peak and then to the Stanley markets. It was ok but I think the best market for shopping was the Ladies market. It went on for many, many blocks and while some of the stalls were repeated as we went along, there really was something for everyone. Another day we went to see the sitting Buddha on Lantau island. We caught the cable cars up and walked through the pretend Chinese historical village to get there (complete with Starbucks and 7-11). There were many stairs to walk up but it’s a must-do when you are in HK. Another day we went on the Star Ferry to look at the Christmas lights display, and then we watched the Festival of lights play on them too. Heidi and Jase went with mum to have high tea at the Peninsula while Nath and I checked out some huge shopping centre near the Star Ferry. Best of all, we all went to Disneyland for a day! Ok, maybe it wasn’t that awesome, but it is something that Heidi and I have always wanted to do, and we ran through the streets like a couple of small kids. It was great fun although it was a little small. I finally got to try flying with Virgin Atlantic too, even though it meant we would have to fly via Sydney. I must say, it was worth the extra travel time! They have a great in-flight entertainment system, and the food was decent too. We walked up the escalators and then realised we had to walk back down again (not that fun), and
somewhere along the way we found these awesome green tea/red bean bun things but I never found them again 
I might try to make my own now that I have found some bau (like char sui bau) flour in an asian grocery store back home. The price of glasses in HK was sooo cheap compared to Australia so mum, Heidi and I made good use of that to stock up on some new styles too.
- Christmas came and went… and left behind a Nintendo Wii!!! Hours and hours of fun. Only one broken light shade thingy so far!
- New years came and went
- Found more termites in the house
- Pest control removed them… left a huge hole in the wall
- Went to Canberra to visit my sister and attend her hen’s night
- Decided I wanted more responsibility (and less stress) so we adopted a gorgeous little
spoodle (cocker spaniel/poodle cross) who we have called Kira. This has led to a total lack of sleep-ins since she tends to wake up early (around 6am). She also likes to go to the toilet in our living room so I can’t wait to get the clicker I ‘won’ off ebay so I can try to train her. Puppy school starts later on this month so hopefully that will help too. I just love puppy kisses!!! I will
post some photos soon – it’s hard to get good shots of her since she is always moving around.
- Am trying to assist my sister organise her wedding in Fiji later on this year. Hopefully this
time I can enjoy Fiji as a holiday destination and not as a humid and hot work place 
.. Time to
stock up on Pure Fiji products too!!
- Am starting to look around for ideas about our wedding. We have looked at some gardens around the place (Mt Cootha botanical gardens and the Mt Cotton Rainforest Gardens) but I’m not sure exactly just yet. I know that we have over 12 months to go but I’ve been told that I should start early :S We are hoping to get married in May 2008 (date yet to be decided), and like the idea of something out among some greenery – a fun, casual atmosphere where we can celebrate our ceremony/wedding thing and then eat some good food afterwards. I’ve been thinking about getting a marquee, or something along those lines but I’m a little concerned about how humid Brisbane can get. Then there’s the dress. I don’t think I am a puffy white dress kinda gal. No hoops and layers of tulle for me. Oh, and as a warning to everyone out there – the idea of a themed/dress-up wedding has not left the table entirely just yet. I’ve noticed that I tend to change my mind a lot – especially after reading wedding magazines. For some strange reason I think I lose some brain cells every time I turn a page that tells me how I should have a wedding. There’s the speeches (mostly nuked), the traditional events (nuked), the white dress (definitely nuked) and the super expensive photographer (nuked). I don’t want kid gloves to look at photos of a happy day. And speaking of which, here’s my little rant. While our wedding will be a happy and fun day, I seriously don’t think it will be THE happiest day of my life. I believe that a wedding is the beginning of a wonderful adventure with someone I love and want to share my life with. I’m sure there will be many more happier days than my wedding. There had better be anyway!!! And if you don’t believe me, then ask me when I am 100 years old. Geez, I sure hope I get my grandparents genes!!! So it seems that the venue may have been decided (almost). Now I need to think about things like food and decorations, bouquets (havent decided yet on the floral aspect), and also the bonbonierres (’presents for the guests’ for those that have not yet seen this word before). I am almost tempted to cater for the wedding myself since I know what I would like to have myself if we do a light refreshment/afternoon tea type of thing, but Nath reminds me that I would not have time
to do this myself in the days leading up to the event itself. He is probably right – here’s
another example of me thinking I have the bandwidth to do something. I could never be a good code developer!! But I already knew that Thanks David Allen! On the other hand, a buffet dinner could be nice too. Oh, and a string quartet!!! Anyway, I guess it always comes back to the main questions of ‘how much do we want to spend?’ and ‘what do I really want anyway?’. Who knows, we could end up getting married in a registry office!! Let’s see how Fiji goes first
For our honeymoon we are thinking about going to Japan and see the sights. I’ve already started learning some Japanese in anticipation for this but so far my vocab is limited to ‘do you speak English?’ Maybe I should try something a little more useful like ‘Where is Iron Chef Sakai’s restaurant?’ or ‘Can you please tell me where the best sushi/sashimi buffet place is?’
- Am trying to deal with level 4 water restrictions in a house that has a large garden and a
pool!!! We haven’t used our pool that much so I’m not sure if we will get a pool cover or whether we should just decommission the pool. Decision yet to be made on that one. The other option is to install a rain water tank.
- Decided to go back to study for one subject this semester (first week has started and I am
already behind!)
- Am trying to get more organised by reading David Allen’s book ‘How to get things done’ (thanks to Rhys and Ricky)
- Am watching Gilmore Girls from Season 1 to present since Nath bought me the first few seasons recently
- I’m still working from home but I tend to travel to Sydney about once a week now. I still prefer to fly with Virgin Blue (gotta love their web checkin…Velocity points… Lounge membership!!!)
*phew* I think that’s about it for now 