Vroom vroom!!

Oh boy! Have I ever had a full week! So much has happened, I hardly know where to start...but I guess the beginning is as good a place as any.

The first fantastic news I have is that on Tuesday (?, maybe it was Monday) Jeremy and I finally received approval to move in together! It's about time! My background check is still in the process of being signed, but now I'm finally allowed to live with Jeremy. I'm so excited and of course relieved - it's such a weight off both our minds knowing that I can move in without him losing his job. Yay!

Speaking of moving in...On Thursday Marianne and I made the 5 hour drive to Stamford, Connecticut to pick up Jessica, their new au pair. We collected her (and her heavy bags) from the hotel in Connecticut and then made our way into New York City for the night. Marianne made reservations for us to stay in the Hotel Wolcott, which was a mere stone's throw away from the bustling center of Manhattan. It was a really cute, old hotel complete with striped wallpaper and floral drapes. Thursday night we rode the subway to The Brooklyn Diner (The finer diner!) for dinner. They had really good food - according to the New York Times they have the best cheeseburger in Manhattan! After stuffing ourselves we walked the 20 or so blocks back to the hotel. Our route took us through the center of Times Square, past Madison Square Garden and along Broadway. Wow! It may be dirty, but NYC is such an exciting place! I love it. I would love to live smack bang in the middle of Manhattan, just for a year or so, just so I could experience everything the city has to offer (although that will never happen - Jeremy hates the Big Apple). On Friday we decided to check out the Statue of Liberty, since both Jessica and I had only ever seen it from afar. So we hopped on the ferry and hopped off onto Liberty Island. Since 9/11 they don't let people go up into her crown, but they do allow you to go up to the observation level at the bottom of the statue. We didn't get to do that though, because they only sell a certain amount of tickets and, of course, we missed out. Still, it was pretty cool to see her up close. After that we hopped back on the ferry and hopped off onto Ellis Island. Those of you who have seen the movie Hitch will know a little about Ellis Island. It's the place where all immigrants were sent in the early 1900's to clear customs and whatnot. It was pretty amazing to stand on the little island that had seen so many thousands of people pass through. They do have a wall of plaques showing the names of every person who has been allowed into the country. It was pretty neat.

Now comes the best news of all! When I was on my way to NYC on Thursday, Jeremy called to tell me that Ford had this great deal going that meant that all vehicles could be bought with 0% interest over 6 years. So of course, he just had to go see if we would qualify for a loan that would allow him to get his dream car - the 2006 Mustang GT. Turns out we did qualify, and so late Thursday I got a message from him declaring that we were now the proud new owners of a cherry red Mustang GT coupe. That boy!! We picked up the car today (Saturday), and I think we're both officially in love with it! It's so shiny and new and FAST! Woo!! V8 engine baby! All leather interior! 6 stacker in-dash cd player! Some nifty gizmo that lets us change the color of the instrument panel to one of 120 shades! Yay!! I've claimed dibbs on it for the last week of work down at Bob and Marianne's, because I know that once I move in he'll be driving it every day to work and I'll be using the Jeep. It sure is fancy though!! Check out the picks!


Leather seats, leather wrapped steering wheel....leather everything!


Soooo shiny!


Twin exhausts, of course!


Imagine this beast coming up behind you!


Oooohhhh...


Pretty flashy, huh?! By the way, that's Jeremy's (and soon to be my) apartment complex in the background. Notice that black SUV in the background? That will be my car.

And I think that's all the news. I start work with the new family on the 5th of September (wish me luck!). I'll be moving in with Jeremy next weekend, after I make sure that Jessica and the girls have settled in and everything's organized. How exciting!!

I want snow!

Well, this week and weekend have been fairly uneventful. I`ve spent the entire week trying to get my assignments done and have been lazy about other things in the process. I may have been crazy trying to do study at home. Oh well. I`ll just keep on trucking through I guess.

Anyway, I guess you`re all wondering why I want it to snow so badly. The reason is....and it`s the best reason ever....Jeremy and I bought our very own snowboards this weekend! Whoohoo! I`m so excited! One of the snowboard stores by us was having a big clearance sale, so we went for a look and came home with boards and bindings (for those of you who don`t know, bindings are the straps that hold your foot to the board. Check it out!


The backs of the boards. Check out the cool woodgrain finish on mine (on the left)


That'd be the topside of the boards.


This is just a close up of the graphics on my board. I love it!

Pretty exciting stuff huh?! So now everyone has to come over during the winter so we can take you all snowboarding with us. Woo!

Finally, some relief!

The disgusting, sweltering heat of summer has finally left DC. Thank God! After a week or two of 100 degree, 100% humidity-filled days, we are finally getting some beautiful weather. The temperature has dropped a good 20 degrees, to a balmy 80. The humidity seems to have left us for now (you guys think Brisbane is bad, try putting up with days that are so humid that the air is hazy), and we've been blessed with some absolutely gorgeous weather. I can finally walk from the house to the car without becoming drenched in sweat. Yay!! Hopefully the summer days are over, and fall is on its way in. Autumn over here is so beautiful - days are filled with the oranges and reds of leaves preparing to fall, and rainy days are few and far between. It is truly wonderful how the seasons change over here. It's as though you can almost tell exactly to the day when one season ends and the next begins. It's much more drastic and exciting than than the seasons back in Australia. I don't think that "hot" and "not as hot" really qualify as being seasons!

Anyway, Jeremy and I took full advantage of a beautiful day on Saturday by spending our afternoon at a local winery. We decided to pack a picnic lunch and head on out to Chrysalis Vineyards for a tasting. Being that we'd never picnicked (hmmm...that word doesn't look quite right...) before, we first had to find ourselves a fancy picnic basket. Well, apparently people don't believe in picnic baskets anymore. We searched online and then at two stores without any luck. Finally we settled on a picnic bag from our favorite outdoors store, REI. Although I had my heart set on getting a basket, the bag is pretty damn cool. It's all decked out with plates, cutlery, and wine goblets for two, as well as a cheese board/knife, a wine cork, and an insulated bottle holder. Woo! I guess we did pay a small fortune for it, so if it didn't have all those extras I'd have been disappointed. After picking up some food we were on our way. The winery about 30 or so minutes from Jeremy's, at the base of the Blue Ridge "mountains" (I'm not convinced they really are mountains). It was so nice, picnicking with our fancy backpack and our bottle of wine. We left with our stomachs full, and with 3 bottles of wine. What a great day!!

Then, on Sunday Jeremy and I both woke up feeling less than perfect. I'm not sure if it's just because of the sudden change in the weather, but we both have pretty minor headcolds. So we spent the morning sniffling and feeling sorry for ourselves, and then decided to head out to brunch. We decided on Harry's Tap Room in Clarendon, which is about 30 minutes drive from Jeremy's place. We had been there before for brunch, and the food is so delicious! I had the Crab cake Benedict, and Jeremy had an omelette (with a Bloody Mary, of course). Mmmmmm...What a good way to spend Sunday morning.

And that brings me up to now. It's Monday morning, and for some unknown reason the kids woke me up at 6:15 with lots of yelling. Apparently they had thought it was ok to go downstairs and turn on the tv/computer, which had inevitably led to a fight. God knows why they would do that, seeing as they both know that they are supposed to stay in their beds until 8am. Boy was I mad. Especially because they aren't even allowed to watch tv because they slept in their parents bed instead of their own (which is something else that makes me incredibly mad, but oh well), and to top it all off I had barely any sleep because of my stuffy head. So now I'm tired and a little cranky, and the girls are both tired as well. I'm thinking that they might be taking a nap after lunch today, whether they like it or not. Oh boy, I'm so mean!

I know, I'm slack!

Yeah yeah...I know it's been two weeks since I last wrote on here. Last week I kept meaning to get it done, but I kept getting sidetracked and before I knew it it was Friday and there was no point. But now Jeremy's been bugging me about getting it done, and so I figured I had better put in some effort!

So...to fill you all in....Last weekend (as in July 29/30) Jeremy and I were in Cleveland for his grandma's 80th birthday. We got on the road Friday night, and arrived Saturday around midday. Thank goodness we weren't driving the whole time. By about midnight Friday we had had enough, and decided to stop at a hotel for the night. Boy, was that a mistake! Imagine, if you will, the most uncomfortably small bed you've ever slept in and you will have some idea as to how we spent the night. Poor Jeremy was miserable. So after much tossing and turning we left on Saturday to finish the drive. Cleveland is a little over 6 hours from our place, which really isn't too bad of a drive. Anyways, after a hectic hour or so shopping to find me something to wear, we all got ready and made our way to mass. Jeremy's uncle is a priest, and so we stayed in the Rectory of his church (by we I mean me, Jeremy, and Jeremy's parents and sisters). After church we headed over to a hall for dinner. Most of Jeremy's mum's side of the family was there, so it was really nice to get to meet them all finally (although a little confusing!). Sunday we went out to breakfast at a pub right by the Rectory, and then it was home again.

Monday I was exhausted. The weekend had just flown by, without stopping for so much as a hello! But of course it was work as usual - in 100 degree heat!! Man, last week was absolutely disgusting! It was extremely hot and humid all week. The girls have been in swimming lessons, so I had to sit outside for an hour everyday sweating my butt off. It was pretty gross. Thank goodness it finally rained here last night/this morning, so most of the humidity and heat is gone. But really...yuck!!

Then this weekend just gone I went out with one of my aupair friends who is leaving in a couple of weeks. It was good to have a girls night out (much to Jeremy's disgust), and I'm sure I'll miss her when she goes.

And that just about brings us up to now. Tonight I bought tickets to something I have wanted to see for years and years. Cirque du Soleil is coming to town and Jeremy and I have tickets!! Yay!!!! Tickets went on sale yesterday and, although most of the good seats were sold out, I still managed to get us seats 5 rows from the front. I'm so so so excited! I've wanted to see a Cirque du Soleil show since forever - I always used to watch it on tv when it was on on a Sunday afternoon. And now that it's coming to DC of course I couldn't let the opportunity go by. So mark your calendars for November 3rd - it's likely to be one of the best days of my life! WHOOHOO!

On a completely different note, I have been looking very hard for a snowboard/bindings/boots. I'm so excited to get my own gear this year, and I can't wait for the snow season to be here. Jeremy and I are thinking of getting season tickets to some ski resorts that are close to us, and I'm looking forward to going as often as we can. I wish summer was over so that we could hit the slopes!! Yay for snowboarding!

And that's about it, I think. Nothing too exciting has been happening over here really. Only two more weeks and then Jessica, the new aupair, arrives. So it's only about three or four weeks until I move in with Jeremy. Yay! That's something else I'm excited about!

I guess I'm just excited about everything tonight!