Delbert came to visit!

My friend Delbert came to visit from California. We have been friends for what seems like forever, but really only like 3 years. He became very interested in my pretty bow bobby pins and wanted to try them on, as you can see in the pic below.

We headed down to the strip to have a little fun and I found a motorcycle to pose on.

Delbert made me pose for this pic, he thought it would be cool because I know what kind of car it is, rather than just taking a picture with a cool looking car. He said it is hot when a girl knows the types of cars. So, yes it is a Ferrari.

Delberts inner child pretending to get arrested by some trooper from Star Wars. He loves this picture.

We went and watched the UFC fight with my friend Lori and her boyfriend Dave who cooked us some great hamburgers and hot dogs and guacamole that Delbert couldn't stop eating. Thanks Dave. Of course I always have to get a picture with Lori when I see her.

Last day in Oz!!!

So my last day in Australia I got a lot in since it wasn't raining, at least not most of the day.

I tried some famous Tim Tams....a must in Australia, they are a delicious chocolate treat that I wish was sold in the states. Bec was kind enough to give me a package of them to take home with me. Thanks bec!!!

Kangaroo just chillin on the side of the road getting his grub on. He was a big daddy....very tall!

So I am lucky I got to keep this pic, my friend Jay and I went to the correctional center (prison grounds) based on a tip from someone that there were lots of kangaroo's grazing on the land. We walked on over to them not knowing we were in restricted area, there was a foot path and everything, next thing we know, a big beefy cop was questioning us and running background checks on us. After about 20 minute of questioning, we were sent on our way. It was quite ridiculous really. Just glad we weren't fined and I got to see some kangaroo's out in the country!!!

Took a walk along the river in the city and took this beautiful pic of the Brisbane Temple across the river. It is so pretty with the cliffs and lit up at night.

View from Mount Coot'tha of Brisbane City...it was overcast and a bit rainy all day so we were lucky to get a few shots this clear of the city.

I am headed to the airport now to return to the States....although I had a whole week of rain, it turned out ok thanks to all the awesome people I got to spend time with. Especially thanks to Jenessa and Joel for letting me stay at their place.....love you!!!

Having fun!

So it has been raining the last 3 days and today it finally stopped but it was still cloudy all day. This is unusual amounts of rain for Brisbane, to the point that they are setting new records....I just wish it had waited until I left. So the beach wasn't even a site to see as you will notice in the pictures below. Due to the recent earthquake in Chile and the storms in Brisbane, the water was brown and really gross!!! I was really disappointed. I will just have to make another trip back someday to see what Australia really has to offer!

I chased the seagulls since I was bored and couldn't go in the water. It was pretty fun.

An huge ugly puffer fish that was washed up on shore.

Last night I went to Bulimba which is a nice little town by the Brisbane river, had some dinner with friends I volunteered with in Romania nearly 4 years ago (who knew we would all reunite in Australia 4 years later) They all live in Brisbane now so it was quite fun catching up with them and remembering our Romanian adventures!! We also headed over to Kangaroo point where the temple is and had a nice walk along the river overlooking the city.




Only a few more days left and not much planned......definitely have to come back and do things right next time!! I am so glad I got to see some old friends and of course Jenessa!!!

Adventures in Australia

So plans for Australia didn't quite go as I thought they would. However, I have done my best to have a good time, despite the rain, and unexpected events, I think so far, I have had a pretty good time.

Coincidentally, our friend Ian Fowles and his band the Aquabats fly to Brisbane on the same flight as me for a band tour. So we went out to lunch with Ian and his friend (Sax/keyboard player for Aquabats) at Nanado's, a delicious chicken place that is super popular apparently.

Jenessa and I got free tickets from Ian to go see him play at the huge Sound Wave event. It is the equivalent of Warped Tour in the states. Anyway, we felt totally out of our element but it was fun to see the Aquabats play again, especially since we used to go see them all the time when we were teenagers.
Here they are playing one of their long time favorites, Martian Girl. Our friend Ian is the Bass guitarist on the far left....the super skinny guy rockin' out!!

So we were so excited because just after the Aquabats finished playing we were able to stop and see Jimmy Eat World play for a bit. I love this band and it was so awesome to get to see them play. There were so many people there it was insane!!!!

I love museums and I went to the Brisbane Museum of Modern Art and saw some pretty cool stuff. This is a figure of Buddha lying down made completely out of stickers. There was just about every sticker you could think of on here.

This tree made out of copper and brass pots and pans from village people somewhere in Asia (I forgot what country) was pretty cool, so big and such an interesting idea for art.

One of my favorites was this VW bug, its like the mansion of VW bugs, totally thought of my friend Jon when I saw this, he lived in his bug for awhile back in the day.

Went to lunch with some beautiful girls. Jenessa and a wonderful Aussie girl Bec and I had a great lunch and then browsed the cute antique shops of Paddington.

We scored some cool finds, including these seriously heavy and horribly uncomfortable prosthetic legs.

Who remembers the trolls?

A very nice lounger from a high social class family, it doesn't look very comfortable but it was surprisingly nice.

So it has been raining for 3 days and that has kind of ruined a lot of plans to fun....not much to do when it rains. We ventured out to the shops today anyway and got soaking wet. Its not too bad though since it is still like 80 degrees outside.

More adventures to come.....

If you ever think life is hard........

Read this book!
And you will realize that life is full of struggles, but there is always a choice of how to react and what to do with that sliver of strength you have left to once again make life worth living.




My mom gave me this book for Christmas and like many books I have read, it really made me think and appreciate all I have been blessed with in life. If you want to learn more about the book or the movement go to http://www.halftheskymovement.org/ Even recognizing and talking about world issues can bring change. It is a lack of knowledge that thwarts change.

My loves are leaving....

My sister and her husband decided since he graduated from Chiropractic school to settle down and start his own practice....of all places they could do this, they chose BOISE, IDAHO. So far away, so cold, and so small town. That's why they love it. But sadly, that means that I won't get to spend much time with my 3 loves anymore, so I made one last trip to California to spend some extra time with my favorite nephews and niece. I love them forever!!!!

Can't help but smile when I see this face!

Love my sister forever!!!

This smile gets me every time!

These brown eyes.....precious!

Elsie and Ryan having fun playing!

Some great moments!

The last few months have been wonderful. Spent 3 weekends in a row in California. It was a lot of driving but I had lots of fun. Thanksgiving was great spending time with all the family. My friend Jon from Wales is visiting so he had Thanksgiving with us. Our relationship is a unique one, everyone thinks we are dating, but we are really more like brother and sister. You can tell by the picture below!!!

Wouldn't be a trip home if I didn't get to see my favorite kids!

We all went to the tree farm to pick out a Christmas Tree. The kids liked the sticks and dirt much more than looking for a tree.

See...Jacob had lots of fun playing in the dirt.

But the best of all was going to my best friends wedding. Here I am with my hair all done up! It was beautiful!!!

Joel and Jenessa Christie!!!!

One of the happiest days for me was being able to spend this special day with my best friend of 25 years!!!! It was really hard as well because she married an Australian.....and now she lives there. Guess that means I will get to do more traveling!!!

It was freezing out side the L.A. Temple but we faked it for all the pictures.

And I got pretty lucky and enjoyed spending some time with one of the groom's men from Australia. Now I have twice as many reasons to go visit Australia!!!