Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known

I am working today, I am going to drive to a place and do a job and earn money today. What an entirely novel idea.

Funnily enough, I was at the very same place yesterday doing the very same thing for free just yesterday, and for four weeks previously, but getting paid to do it now is good.

This morning I woke up at 6:30am and because I really have nothing to do, I thought I may as well go back to sleep for a while. I woke up at 7:30am and checked my phone (like I do every morning) and noticed I had voice mail, I called back expecting it to be the sound of someone hanging up, but alas it was not, it was the acting director of my Kindy offering me relief work and would I start right now?

Yesterday the other staff said how they’ll need a new assistant because one of the others (who was on holidays while I was there) is leaving and they’ll need someone to replace her and how they’ve all asked that I be the person to do so. I said again that I’d be interested on the days I don’t have uni but I didn’t really think anything of it. I’ve heard it all before, but low and behold I am employed the very next day. Even relief is fine with me, having no money at all even just one day of work every now and then is super, two days a week however would be especially awesome.

So now I have to go and get ready and make lunch and be otherwise useful on a day that I was planning to mop the floors and go and window shop at GC, isn’t it funny how things turn out? I also want to call Mr. Howard (or his employees anyways) and let them know I have a one day job so I don’t have to pay back my free money, or go to jail or be beaten with sticks or anything else they threaten on the ads if I don’t support the system that supports me.

At NF4 Natalie threw down the challenge for us to post primary school pictures of ourselves. I promptly forgot because I was blind drunk but she reminded us on her blog yesterday so I just dug up some old photos now. I don’t have a scanner so to say they are poor quality is a huge understatement, they are all photos of photos which is why they look a bit fuzzy. I could get any pictures of my class photos because they are all laminated ( no, I don’t know why) and I could get my camera to focus properly so you’ll just have to make do.

Let’s start from the start:
Clearly, my love of giant sunnies is something that has been ingrained in me since a very young age. I’d guess I was just under twelve months old in this picture and I am sitting on D’Daddy’s knee (1984). I believe it was taken in the yard behind the surf club at which I spend almost all of my formative years, the fact I pretty much grew up on the beach accounts for the killer tan I will sport in the rest of the pictures, it does not, however, account for my strong dislike of sand and swimming.

This would be me in Kindy – 1986. This would also be my natural hair color. D’Mummy often reminds me that I was a particularly melancholy wee one, one particular story she enjoys was when I was first read the story of "Cinderella", for a good week or so after I would bum around at home sighing "Poor ‘Ella". D’Mummy assumed I was just being weird until we read the story again and she realized that I had been terribly sad for Cinderella because she was treated badly by her ugly step sisters. I’ve always been an over thinker, it seems.

This would be D’Jen in Preschool – 1987, yes, I am wearing a sailor dress. This was taken on our school photo day and is one of my first, very vivid memories. I was sitting on the mat playing with the animal Duplo and the photographer came up and started talking to me. He knew I had a younger brother called D’Brother and also knew my cats name was "Mascilla". Mascilla was a name I invented all by myself, think Priscilla with a "Ma" sound, it was the most elegantly beautiful name I could think of. For years after I thought the photographer was some sort of magic man until I worked out he probably had a little cheat sheet for every child.

D’Jen: Primary school – 1988. I know the particularly bad photo was taken on day one of Year One. I am standing next to my best friend at the time who’s gone on to become a Pharmacist and got married late last year, let’s not think about what I’ve done in comparison… I was standing against the wall of the library in the big bitumen area in the center of
the school, my classroom was just off the to left. The other photo is of me at my best family friend’s birthday party (fifth birthday, I believe). She is born the day before me so it’s entirely possible I’m looking disinterested because my party would have been the next day. It also seems I was doing Nat’s face way before she started to do it, so I guess it means that it’s my look!

Other Bloggers, do this too!!

I can say with almost utmost certainty I am not the only Brisbane Blogger who has surfaced this morning (or sometime today) and wondered "What did I DO last night?"

"Let’s have a BBQ" we said, "We’ll use Adam’s apartment" we said, "Yeah, let’s drink lots" we said (or maybe that was just me?). We started drinking at about 3:30pm and I was the soft one who left at about 12:30am, do you even know how many hours of drinking that equals?!

I knew it was time to leave when my body was trying to pass out without my consent, normally I choose to pass out at a certain point but when I was having trouble fighting my eyes to not roll back in my head I knew it was time to call it a night.

When I left there was three empty bottles of Bacardi, one empty bottle of Gin, three or four empty wine bottles and six empty Strongbows. There was 7 people, and one of them had only been there a couple of hours.

I’ve had seven hours sleep and breakfast this morning and I can say with confidence that I’m still quite drunk. If I was to attempt to drive right now I would certainly be arrested for DUI. I really think it’s a sign of a great party, when you had such a good time your body wants to keep raging the next day, despite being a fairly inappropriate situation (case in point: going lunch with D’Nanny in two and a half hours, awesome…).

I’m not really going to be bothered wrapping everyone up, all Brisbane Bloggers are just awesome (or you wouldn’t be invited next time). Deb is the nicest paparazzi ever, Adam is The Awesome, Jac is lovely and likes to pat me, Natalie is easily the funniest person who has ever taken breath, Phil makes bad mojitos but he’s nice so we’ll forgive him and Not-S-Homeless Dave seems rather nice as well but I met him when I was seeing two of everything so I was very drunk and extremely incoherent.

I felt fine last night when I got to bed, fine when I woke up at my 3am for seediness check but now, not so fine. I am going to try and sober up so I can keep my eyes open at lunch, brush my teeth (why, oh why, do you get a furry mouth after drinking?) and move into my new bedroom. Weeeee (except for the hungover part)….

Drama Queen Setting: MAXIMUM

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Dear QUT,
I hate you.
No, really, I do.
D’Jen
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Dear First Year Uni Students,
Hi, welcome to uni. Take off your nightclub makeup, your short shorts and your sparkly shoes. Put on some jeans and havianas and calm down. Just because you no longer have school bells telling you what to do during the day and you can smoke and swear loudly on campus if you please, it does not make you cool it makes you a uni student, welcome to being the lowest form of human life.

Here’s the most worthwhile tip you’ll get in your first year of uni, don’t come every day. Lectures are for dorks, do the readings and unless you are studying medicine or rocket science you’ll be sweet. If you are going to come every day, catch a bus. This is my seventh year at uni, that makes me more entitled to a car park than you, it’s all about pecking order. When I think about the tens of  thousands of dollars QUT has sucked out of me in the past few years, I pretty much believe I should have a car space with my name painted in it and someone to come and open my door for me.

Have fun at uni, it sucks so bad but you can’t beat the holidays!

P.S Doing two full time semesters, then a summer semester is a terrible idea. Case in point, my mid semester break started at 1pm this afternoon when I handed in my last assignment and comes to a crashing halt on Monday at 8am when I start my first class. I am always behind in readings and the new semester hasn’t even started. Do you see my point?
D’Jen
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Dear Brisbane Drivers,
Haven’t you always thought it is entirely curious how large your skull is for a vessel which contains only ear wax and saw dust? You’ll be surprised to know that this particular cavity actually houses a terribly important organ, it’s know to many as a brain.

Even more exciting, this magical muscle can actually assist you in your driving. For example, your brain might tell you that driving on the freeway at 160k/hr on a rainy day might not be the smartest idea. It might also tell you that playing with your car’s CD player in stop start traffic might not be the most appropriate occasion to do this.

Do you know? I think if all Brisbane drivers would just use half their brain, it might make driving just a little bit more enjoyable and a little bit less life threatening for all involved.
D’Jen
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Dear Instant Coffee and Jellybeans,
Thank you for getting me through yet another last minute assignment. We all know that it won’t be the last time but I sincerely thank you for the great effort you always put in for kicking me over the finish line each and every time.

If we could possibly come up with some sort of arrangement so I don’t shake like a dirty crack whore after consuming you, that would also be fantastic. I can look shifty enough without your help.

Thanks again!
D’Jen
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I am off to eat my body weigh in double Brie and Lindt while I do the housework to settle down. Somebody pour me a drink!!

Thanks to all those who had a guess (sorry Mars, there was others who did have a guess).

The grand total of photos taken was 67, and the person who guessed closest the this was Jac who guessed 60. Hooray for Jac, let’s all give her some congratulatory fairy claps.

I’m sure you would all like to know what her magnificent prize is for winning such an illustrious competition.

There is just so much to like about this crappy magnet. Could it be the hard, articifcial material from which it is moulded? Could it be the ashamed eye covering of the poor koala featured on the magnet? Could it be the practically sized magnet on the back so that this crappy magnet might be mounted proudly on the fridge door? Could it be the uncomfortable, knee clutching action of the koala with a bottle opener in his bottom? I suppose it’s not really for us to decided, Jac will get to find her own little reasons to adore her very newest crappy magnet.

In a glorious product of circumstance I will also get to hand deliver this glorious prize to Jac herself, and the momentous occasion will be witnessed by a number of other Brisbane bloggers.

Congratulations again, Jac, I have no doubt news of your win will brighten your day. To those who missed out this time, don’t forget to register your guesses for my next holiday, I’ll let you know as soon as that is planned.

Jiggity Jog. (Did anyone else’s parents sing that little rhyme to them when they were little?)

I still feel fanfreakin’tastic. Like, the best I’ve felt, ever.

I have a mountain of washing I can’t jump over, a hundred bits and pieces littered all over the house to put away again, an assignment worth 50% which is two thirds unfinished (at best), tragic, dirty, messy hair and NO money, but it’s so good to be me it’s not even funny.

Seriously, you don’t understand how good I feel. I am ‘me’ again! The ‘me’ I forgot was even inside me! I’m not going to blame it all on the dysfunctional relations and subsequent break up, I have to own some of this as well. I thought I was being treated well, but in hindsight I really wasn’t. If it was someone else in my same position I’d be so upset that I was watching someone else being taken advantage of, but when it’s yourself you don’t notice. Even after that though I just didn’t look after myself properly. I think I was so concerned with not letting myself fall to pieces after being dumped that I over compensated and didn’t really work on making myself feel like me. I just convinced myself I was alright and deserved better without really considering that it’s OK not to be fantastically alright straight away after almost everything you thought was real crumbled around you and that I really hadn’t even considered what the "better" I was very desperately searching for was.

I am not so naive to say that this massive, earth shifting realization happened in the last twelve days, but I think being around Bestie and just being in the company of Bestie and BP’s truly beautiful friends and family just made me realize that everything I thought I would never and could never have is out there. Of course, I have wonderful parents, A and Little A are just so special to me and of course, my dear Blogger friends, so I don’t want to sound like my life is tragic. It’s so not tragic, but I was much too concerned with the yuckiness surrounding The Ex and some of his friends and being incredibly self conscious while trying to convince myself that I’m fine that I didn’t really appreciate exactly how much I have going for me.

Life is just way too short.

I’m am going to be friends with the people who like me and enjoy my company and not worry about those who don’t. I am over the gossip and bitching behind backs that happens within the social circle which The Ex and I part of, I am done. I am not going to do it anymore, I can hardly pretend to be above it all if I am just as bad as everyone else when I’m around the girls so no more. I’m not going to let myself be worried about what they think of me, talking about other people is a sign of insecurity which is exactly why I was doing it, so it doesn’t make much sense to be concerned by what other people say about me if they are only doing it because of what they dislike about themselves.

I am not going to be single forever. I’m a likable person, there are boys who would seek out and enjoy my company. If I get engaged next month, next year or next decade, it’s all good. I think this is one of the biggest revelations, I meet very few single boys in my day to day life so it’s easy (though naive) to believe that I will never come across anyone who’d be interested in me. They will, and I’m happy not to go looking. I think I was looking to not be single for the wrong reasons a while ago, I didn’t want the company or love, I wanted to be validated. Last time when I was single, I was the best single person ever. I was fiercely independent and never wanted to need someone ever again, I wanted to want someone because I loved them, not because I needed them. I did an amazing job of forgetting this and became fairly dependent on The Ex, which is why my little world came crashing down when we broke up, because it was all his world and I had very little of my own stuff going on to sustain me. I am going to keep doing the stuff I like to do and if someone comes along who loves and works with what I do, that’s awesome, and if not that’s alright too.

I am also going to get a job again. I LOVE being a Lady of Leisure, but I also really like having money.  I really didn’t buy much for myself while I was away, I bought some things for my family, A and Little A and spent lots of money eating out and drinking so I know that I don’t want to have money for the wrong reasons. I am still not over wanting to have lots of things, I really like things, but I think I am much more able to appreciate having a few nice things rather than just having lots for the sake of owning things. I also really liked working because of the social aspect, it’s really nice to go and hang out with some people with whom you have a huge common interest every now and then. I really thrived on prac just being around people. I’m fairly introverted as a person, but I still enjoy being around people. The job things also makes all the boring stuff like paying off CC debt and student loans much easier, too. I also have a massive, new found (well, not so much, more re-found) appreciation for clothes and fashion. I say I’m gagging for the Stella McCartney for Target range would be a sweeping understatement, I have a number of weddings coming up later in the year and I’ve found the dress to wear for (some of )them. It’s so beautiful I’m going to have to do a whole entry dedicated to it.

I’m still onto my whole walking/running deal. While I was on holidays I walked a lot. We would take Bestie’s dog for a walk most days, and on most other days I would do a good couple of days walking around shops or tourist places. I think this fact alone has been solely responsible for me not requiring a muu muu and an extra seat on the plane considering the amount of cheese, chocolate and alcohol consumed in the past fortnight. While Bestie was unable to significantly alter my taste in wines, she did give me a new appreciation of good food as opposed to easy food. Dark chocolate v. Cadbury. Small amounts of good cheese v. chunks of garden variety cheddar. Real fruit juice (NO SUGAR!!) v. fruit drink. She’s very much into the whole "French Women Don’t get Fat" movement at the moment and while I didn’t read it, the philosophy makes perfect sense. I also bought an enormously fat vege cookbook so I have no excuse not to eat proper vege meals anymore.

This post may leave some people scratching their heads. I know none of this is earth shattering, it’s all fanatically simple stuff but I am extremely good at not being able to see the forest for the trees, so to just have a BREAK and look at everything from a different perspective has just been so amazingly perfect I can’t quite believe how much difference it has made.

Tonight I get to go and see my husband for the first time in person, I’m so very excited. I believe I might even get to see his naughty bits if the rumors about the show are right, so maybe I will know exactly what I’m in for by marrying him. Even if he decides that maybe we aren’t a match made in heaven I will probably get to see a boy I like naked and laugh until I cry (maybe about seeing him naked, or maybe not, I’ll tell you tomorrow) but either way I can’t wait!!

P.S Flickr will be updated sometime this week and the crappy magnet winner announced. Today is your very last chance to guess how many photos I took during my trip for your chance to win a spectacularly awful magnet. Guess away!!

P.P.S Welcome back formatting buttons, I’ve missed you. I *heart* spell check and link buttons!

This trip has been really awesome. Obviously visting Bestie is just great, I can’t remember the last time we saw each other daily for almost two weeks straight, so that alone is really significant. It’s also more than that though, I’m not sure why but I really feel like I’ve just sorted lots of stuff out for myself, I feel I am in a really good place. So this is the stuff I’ve learned:

1) Dogs do stuff for no reason. As I mentioned before I’ve never really been around young, small dogs before. Staying home with Bestie’s dog has been very interesting. At first I was terrified someone was breaking into the house everytime he’d run to the door or window, look outside and whine. Everytime I was in the bathroom I was convinced it was someone in the house everytime I heard him walking around and pulling out his toys. I’ve realised he just does it because he’s weird. I bought him a toy yesterday and he had to take it and roll on it, then he nudges it into my lap or leg and gets me to try and take it, then runs away with it. For days I thought it was because he hates me and was trying to mess with me, but really he wants me to fight him for it . I think I think too much about stuff.

2) I can do scary stuff by myself and be fine. I saw my first movie alone yesterday. I wanted to waste a few hours before meeting Bestie for lunch so I saw “Employee of the Month” (not too bad, by the way). It was a bit not fun because I had to laugh out loud in parts and I looked like a crazy person, but it’s nice to not miss out on the ones you want to see if you can go alone. I also took myself to the zoo (awesome, I got to look at all the stuff I wanted to see, for as long as I liked) and I also survived driving in a strange city, getting very lost and finding my way home. To a lot of people it’s not a big deal, but it’s very important to me to know that I am a bit useful by myself.

3) Dark chocolate is pretty nice. I’d only tried it once before, hated it and stuck to my every faithful Cadbury Dairy Milk. Bestie made me try it again and it’s really not so bad. I’d go so far to suggest that a little bit of dark (say 50% cocoa) chocolate is much nicer than a huge block of Cadbury, maybe less is more after all?

4) I have some personal style back! Having a very limited selection of clothes to choose from has been really useful in finding out what I do and don’t like to wear. Thankfully I’ve worn almost everything I packed (normally I’d wear abour 25% of the clothes I pack, I’m bad at choosing the stuff I want to wear) and I’ve worked out what I like and don’t like. Having a lot of time to shop has probably also helped because I’ve been able to see what’s out there, but I have bought very little for myself. I bought a top from Myer, a pair of shoes, two pairs of Havianas ($15 each!), three handbags (two from op shops), a little purse and some cheap accessories. Having money to spend and lots of time to shop I am so pleased I was able to show some self restraint! I’m also going to let my hair grow out a bit (for Winter) it’s getting a bit wild and wooly at the moment but I’m going to try to roll with it.

5) Single = alright. For the first time in a very long time, I am completely at peace with being single. I can now really appreciate that I’m single because it’s the right thing for me and I’ve gained back my fierce independance I had before I was with The Ex. I think I am in a really good head space and I am happy to be single for as long as I need to be, but I think I am in a really good position to meet someone now that I have sorted myself out. BP’s brother is visiting tomorrow, Bestie has been onto me for YEARS about how perfect he is for me and how we should get married but I am yet to meet him. I don’t expect anything life changing after knowing someone for a day and a half but stranger things have happened. I’m really keen to meet him just so I can really get a feel for Bestie’s judge of character.

I have to pack today because tomorrow will be very busy and Sunday I don’t have too much time to do anything before I go to the airport. I am scared my luggage will be over weight but I called Qantas this morning about a very large picture I need to bring back and the girl suggested I pack two bags of hand luggage becasue they are less picky about that and rarely bother to check the weight. Good tip!

I am off to go and buy meters and meters of bubble wrap and one of those tragic stripey bags to put my excess junk in. No more blogs from me, have an excellent weekend and I’ll see you back in Vegas on Monday!!

P.S Details of NF4 have been sent, if you didn’t get the email or want to know more, let me know!

So far I’ve had the best Valentine’s Day I’ve had in years but it doesn’t really have anything to do with being single or not single (still very single, just for the record). BP is meant to be taking Bestie, me and one of Bestie’s friends (who’s partner works with BP but is away on business) out for Mexican and cocktails. If we end up going I will be insanely happy, Mexican is AWESOME. If not I am still happy to be part of a cozy threesome (not the icky kind) this V Day.

This morning I drove from Bestie’s to Perth Zoo. It’s about a ten minute drive which is exactly six minutes out of my driving comfort zone in Perth. I had a rather insane time getting ready to go (BP had SOMETHING [incase Bestie's reading from work] delivered for Bestie and it was just after I’d herded up the fur kids so I could go out. As soon as I opened the door to recieve it, it was dog one way, cat the other so I had to run up the street trying to catch these fur kids AGAIN. The drive itself was uneventful, the Zoo was really good, big but not too big, nice range of exhibits, hardly anyone there, I took some awesome pictures. I went to leave and ended up going the wrong direction (bad), crossing the river (very bad) and getting so mind bogglingly lost (very, very bad). I sat in a side street with my book of maps and tried to work out how to get home, while resisting the urge to burst into tears. I eventually found my way home (after a good thirty minute scenic tour) and all was right in the world.

I get very minimally nervous about doing stuff that would make other people feel a bit uncomfortable (flying overseas alone, online dating, getting things peirced) but day to day stuff (driving in another state, being responsible for someone elses car/home/pets) is enough to reduce me to a quivering mess. Thankfully everything was all OK. Last night my very worst nightmare came true, I was in an accident in Bestie’s car. She had parked it and ran into a Bottle-O and I was sitting in the parked car (in the passenger seat) with one of the fur kids and the car parked infront of us reversed straight back into Bestie’s car. Thankfully he stopped and even more thankfully it was not my fault. It wasn’t serious but it still sucks to have an accident.

I can’t believe I have just a few more days left in Perth before I have to go home. I’m really looking forward to seeing Little Britain, seeing A and Little A again, NF4 and even going back to uni (!) but I could very easily stay in Perth. Bestie, BP and I have had no troubles living together (not that they have told me anyways!) so it’s almost sad to break up a good household, BP also has to leave to go to a conference on Sunday as well so we are both abandoning her on the same day!

I hope everyone else is having a lovely Valentine’s Day, even if you are single it’s all cool, enjoy spending a day to recognise all the people you love in your life

P.S I still have no editing buttons (I tried refreshing) and I’m too lazy to copy this entry into Word to spell check so please forgive any errors.

Perth and Brisbane are really quite similar. Looks wise, fairly similar (when Brisbane is not in a drought). Climate wise, fairly similar (except Brisbane is very humid). General vibe, very similar. Despite all of this, there are just some things I still can’t used used to.

1) Daylight Savings. The sun sets at 8:30/9pm, that’s just crazy, every day the following conversation takes place:
D’Jen: Oh my gosh, it’s 8:30, look outside, look how light it is, it’s 8:30!! It’s just so crazy, this is like 6:00pm light, how can it be 8:30pm?!?!
Bestie: Daylight savings…
D’Jen: But isn’t it just crazy, can you believe it?!
Bestie: Yeah…
D’Jen: It’s just so weird, don’t you think it’s weird?! It’s just so light!
Bestie: ….
I’m pretty sure she’ll just punch me tonight rather than listen to me rave on about how crazy it being daylight so late at night is, but it’s JUST SO WEIRD!!

2) Pelican Lights. Every. Single. Time. I see them flash orange I think “Oh no, the lights are out!”. I can never remember it’s just what they do, thankfully I’ve never encountered them while I’ve been driving by myself because I know I’d panic and think they lights were out.

3) Living with a dog. I had a dog at home until about Grade Five, but he was exceptionally old by then and he was also a big dog, I am not used to little, young dogs. Bestie has a Shitzhu (he’s clipped, not one of those long haired ones) and he constantly amazes me. I’ve met him when he was like six weeks old, very briefly, but have not seen him since. I bought him some toys when I arrived and I gave one to him so he took it into Bestie’s room, put it on the floor, and rolled over it for a good few minutes. He also has to sniff EVERYTHING if we go for a walk and needs to wee on everything, even if he has no wee left. He makes noises like you are breaking off his toes if you eat infront of him or when he’s in the car going to the park. He will run upto the most enourmous dogs in the park without fear but he’s scared of their five month old, tiny kitten. He’s just mystfying.

4) The color of grass. I had forgotten how much I like grass. It’s so green and lush, EVERYWHERE. You can walk on it and it doesn’t break off under your feet and stab you, it’s all soft and cool and SO green. Grass is awesome.

5) Sandy soil. Bestie has polished floorboards and no matter how much you sweep and vaccum there is always sandy dust on the floors. You all know about my foot thing, and I am pedantic about having clean feet and it’s impossible with dusty, sandy soil everywhere. It’s making me just a touch more crazy than normal.

6) Hoses. You can use a hose here and no one will arrest you or put you in jail. Bestie gets to water her plants every day, with a hose, putting water everywhere. I love hosing, I love puddles, I love the smell of plants being watered, it’s very exciting.

7) Wine. How can people drink the really bitter, dry wines? I tried one on Sunday which had a distinct aftertaste of nail polish remover. What’s to enjoy about that? Give me a sweet, fruit wine anyday, it’s fun to drink and you don’t have to reel back in horror after every sip, isn’t that the point of having a bottle of wine, to enjoy it?

Recap so far:
Alive and well
Teetering on the edge of possible sickness
Drinking: Lots
Husbands/Fiancées: Nil
Potential life partners I’ve been introduced to: Nil (She lied!)
Wine Preference: I just dislike wine now; I’ve tried so many different kinds I’ve just decided to give up because they are all yucky.
New things I’ve tried and liked: Fresh figs, dark chocolate, Danish fetta, blue vein cheese
New things I’ve tried and disliked: Red wine, olives, dukkah, all white wines, and Indian food

I’ve actually taken a fair few pictures, and I have a lot more to take. You won’t be seeing any until I come home because my laptop won’t connect to Bestie’s internet (it’s a wireless modem that has to be plugged into the computer for it to work, I don’t understand it) so I can’t upload any pictures.

On Friday I made it into the city successfully on a bus, I saw Bestie’s office and met her workmates and had a drink ($2 Champagne, probably the nicest I’ve tried so far, no really). We walked to get BP from his after work drinking place of choice and were planning to have a drink there but there was a line to get in (into a pub, at 6pm on a Friday arvo, unheard of!) so we decided to collect him and come home and get ready for the movie. We waited like 45 minutes for the bus that seemed to have no plans on coming to the stop so we jumped in a cab. We pre ordered some nachos, came home, got ready, collected the nachos and rushed off to the outside movies. We got there, they said the movie had changed last minute and was not DejaVu but the newest James Bond one. I hadn’t seen it and didn’t really want to and Bestie and BP have already seen it so we decided to have a picnic in the park instead. We went home and got Baskins and Robbins and I bought The Devil Wears Prada so we could watch it. I made it two thirds of the way through before I started to fall asleep so I called it a night.

We woke up Saturday and got ready as we were planning to go to a shopping centre. BP noticed Bestie’s phone was calling him but neither Bestie or I was using the phone at the time. He answered to find out that her phone had fallen out of the bag we took to the outdoor movies and a lady had collected it and had been waiting for us to realise it was gone and call it. She lived on the other side of the city in “The Hills” so we had to go and drive 40 minutes to collect the phone. It was a massive house with a very steep driveway. I sat in the car while Bestie and BP collected the phone and the entire time I was planning my escape should the handbrake fail and the car went rolling down the driveway to my certain death. Thankfully all was well and we left the house and went to have coffee in the nearby touristy town. Bestie and I decided to be adventurous (stupid?) and ordered “French Bowls” of coffee (her) and hot chocolate (me). They came out and were massive, deep soup bowls of drinks! It must have been the equivalent of about three normal sized drinks. Mine was fairly cold and not very nice so I had like half a cup worth but Bestie and BP had a fair go at finishing hers. After that we had a bit of a shop and then went home to get ready for BP’s company picnic.

King’s Park is one of my favourite places in Perth. It’s so incredibly massive and most of it has this amazing, emerald colored, thick lovely grass. Coming from Brisbane where almost all grass is brown or just dead it’s so beautiful to see. Were down in a park which had this fantastic kids playground which had a bridge over to the playground island in the middle of the pond, it’s was so awesome! I would have liked to go on it if we weren’t in the company of BP’s bosses and colleagues. The picnic was all right, lots of free wine and beer. I met a couple of Bestie’s/BP’s friends, one in particular is this rake thin, blonde Californian girl. She’s very much supermodel potential, she’s so so tiny and she’s also really interesting and lovely. Her partner is hilarious, a total “life of the party” type person. When we picked him up later in the night when the boys were going out he pretended that he was single and said she was his sister, it was funny but maybe you had to be there

We came home after the picnic (no gifts or lollies Phil, you lied!) and got ready to go out for Bestie’s workmates thing. We decided not to stay over at the apartment they’d booked because I was deathly cold after the picnic (it must have been like 25 degrees, and raining in parts on Saturday, very much a Queensland winter!) and we didn’t really feel like having a total bender. We got to the restaurant (an Indian place) and we waited for an HOUR for someone to take our order, and the restaurant would have been less than half full. The cocktails we ordered took about 30 minutes to be made, the food was all right, mine was incredibly spicy! I had naan as well and that was pretty nice but I’m not a fan of Indian food by any means, but at least I have tried it now, I just don’t like curry sort of spices.

We went back to the apartment and made an apple martini with the cocktail mix I bought for Bestie. It was GOD awful! Super sweet but also bitter so I was really not in the mood to drink after that. WE sat around and everyone talked about work stuff that I have no idea about; it was all right I don’t mind listening to other people talk about that sort of stuff but it’s hard to participate in a conversation like that so I probably seemed a bit rude. We left about 11:30pm and went home to bed. BP and his friends were out playing Poker until the wee hours so we were fairly tame in comparison!

Yesterday morning we took Bestie/BP’s dog out for a walk around the river at South Perth and then walked along the streets near the river looking at the apartments and houses, they are really nice! We went out to Swan Valley that afternoon to have a look at some of the wineries and Guildford. We went past Houghton’s winery and pulled into a driveway to turn around, it turns out it was a rum distillery so we decided to go in for a look. We had a tasting platter of rums, there was an over proof rum which was 52%, a normal rum which was about 32% and a melon liqueur which was about 20% I think. We also ordered a Mojito and the platter came out some cheeses, dips and meats. The Mojito was SO nice! The over proof rum was also really, really nice. I don’t normally drink rum but this is much nicer than Bundaberg Rum, it was much smoother and a lot less…bitey. I overheard Bestie say something about rum paste so I tried some of a cracker and bit into it just as I heard her read “organic duck livers”, turns out it was pate and not paste, I wasn’t listening. It was a mistake, I didn’t eat it on purpose and I didn’t eat anymore of it. I know my karma isn’t so good because of it, but I figured it’s all right. It tasted really yucky so I think I’m more committed as a vege now.

We went to Houghton’s, which was quite pretty, I tried a really yucky desert wine, which tasted exactly like the one we had on the first night I arrived. I ended up buying a wine for A and we had a look at some of the old wine making equipment and some paintings that were on display. From there we went to three or four more places before we came across an olive and cheese place. We ordered a “Ploughman’s Platter” which had all of these lovely cheeses, olives, grapes, bread, oil, dukkah, figs and dried fruit. It was really nice, the grapes were the nicest I’ve ever had and the cheese was good as well. I tried a green olive and it was really yucky but the fresh figs were really lovely, the dried fig was also pretty good as well. After that place we went to the chocolate factory (free samples!) and I spend WAY too much money buying things for my family. I bought a cookies and cream bar to have last night which was really good, definitely worth a stop if you find yourself in the Swan Valley one day.

Today I am going to do some washing (so I have some clothes to wear!), do my assignment (cause I’m lazy!) and just have a day off from spending money hand over fist and walking around for hours. Tomorrow I think Bestie is having the day off so we’ll probably go shopping somewhere and on Wednesday I’m taking myself to the Zoo and I believe BP has been instructed to take us both out for Valentine’s Day. I offered to stay home so BP and Bestie can have a more traditional Valentine’s dinner but she insists I come. Thursday and Friday I am not sure what I will do, maybe go into the City or Northbridge for a look and Saturday we are having a BBQ. Then Sunday I am back to sunny BrisVegas for the harsh light of reality to start shining down on me again (and Little Britain, weeee!)

P.S There is no links or photos because Mac hates Typepad and I have almost no formatting buttons and this is not my laptop so I don’t have my pictures on it, you’ll just have to suck it up, all right?

P.P.S I am stuck for my next “The Highlights” post, is there anything from the past of D’Jen you’d like me to revisit for you? I can’t do “being born” or anything before three years of age because I don’t remember any of it, so don’t ask. Other than that, I’ll consider all suggestions, so suggest away!