Elsja Down Under

Goodbye Summer March 31, 2009

 

It’s official… well, technically it’s been official since the beginning of March- but today it really felt like the start of Autumn. Actually, it felt like winter but whatever. The rain was pouring down, the wind was blowing and we cooked a great big pot of homemade vegetable soup for dinner. Yum.

Usually when Autumn starts I have many things to look forward to. Halloween, Thanksgiving and then Christmas is right around the corner. Do you know what happens in an Australian Autumn? NOTHING. That’s right… nothing. Oh… well Easter happens, but it’s not like I really want Easter pumpkins instead of Easter baskets, baby chicks, peeps and spring flowers. And did you know that there are NO white eggs in Australia? Do you know what that means? You can’t dye eggs! You can paint them I suppose, but it doesn’t really matter because they just give chocolate eggs here. No baskets filled with plastic grass and cute toys and candy… just giant chocolate eggs. I don’t even love chocolate all that much. I’d rather have colorful plastic eggs filled with pink and yellow candy corn and jelly beans. Ok, ok… maybe I need time to adjust, this will be my first Easter away from home in California so cut me some slack.

So what will I do this Autumn without Halloween and Thanksgiving to fill my time and stomach? I’ll have to eat plenty of laksa and Tom Yum soup. Warm and toasty in my belly during the chilly weather . I’ll break out the scarves, beanies, jackets, boots and my favorite cozy Nap blanket! I really do prefer cold-weather clothing much more than summer clothing so that’s a good thing, right? So bring on Autumn! I suppose I’m ready to say goodbye to Summer, but ask me again in June when it’s freezing and I probably will take back that statement.

Oooh… and Autumn may be brining one more great thing to Sydney… But more on that in a later blog. In the meantime, please enjoy my lovely collage that I made to celebrate the new season.

Xobni February 24, 2009

Ok… nerd alert!

For any of you who use Outlook… I want to tell you about the coolest plug-in application EVER. So I just downloaded it and already I’m in love. Thanks to my geeky boss/brother-in-law for showing me this little gem.

So Xobni… no idea how to say it- but it’s basically an application that sits on the side of your outlook and does all kinds of cool things. If I click on an email I wrote to Andrew, all of Andrew’s contact info shows up on the right. It shows me his picture that I have saved in outlook, his phone number, his skype info, etc. It shows me his email rank (of course he’s #1) And it also shows other people in his network (people that he’s ccd on emails to me or vice versa). Then it pulls up the most recent emails from him and the latest files he’s sent me as well.

Already so cool, right?

That’s not all… it pulls in data from facebook, linkedin and other networking sites. SO… if I don’t have a picture saved for the person in my outlook- it actually pulls their picture from facebook!! How cool is that? So when I click on Natasha, it shows me her facebook picture and asks me if I want to sign in to facebook to view her page. Once I allow facebook to access the application- then it actually will show the person’s status, photos and there’s a little “add” button in case you aren’t friends with them yet.

It’s pretty intersting as well because I have emails from work people and people on forums that I’m a member on and if I click on one of their emails, I can see their picture as long as they have facebook. Pretty crazy that I can access random people’s details that easily… but I suppose they’re the ones who put it out all over the internet for the world to see, right?

So lastly, the final cool thing I will post on (because to be honest, I haven’t used it enough to find other cool stuff yet) is the search feature. Searching for an email in outlook is kind of a nightmare, but just type a few words into the search bar on Xobni and you get a real time search of all the emails with those words. Looking for an email from a specific person? Type their name in and a few other key words. It’s fantastic!

 Me likey.

Tea Cozies February 10, 2009

My mom is trying to sell some of her super cute Tea Cozies and bread warmers/hot pads so I thought I’d help her out by posting this as many places as I can. Tea cozies are nifty little “sweaters” that you use to keep your pots of tea warm and toasty. She just made me my first tea cozy ever last month and it actually makes me want to drink more tea… just so I can use it.
She currently has several patterns “in stock” but also takes custom orders. The brown and green one I have shown here was a custom order placed by me I sent her a few pictures of some fabric ideas and she was able to go out and create exactly what I was envisioning.

Check out the full album of possible options here:

TEA COZY ALBUM

They are fully reversible and prices currently range from $25-30. She also will take custom orders based on colors/fabrics/detailing that you choose. Prices vary for custom designs.

Also- for anyone in Austrlalia, she’ll be coming down under at the begining of March- so if you’re interested, let me know ASAP so she can bring any selected cozies with her.

And Now for Some Google Searches October 14, 2008

This is always a fun game…

For the last week, the top Google searches that lead people to my blog are:

4. 2008 NRL Grand Final Pre Game – boring… but at least I’m being found on Aussie searches now

3. Qantas Pilot Newport Marriott – another boring search, however my blog was ranked number one on this search. Anytime my blog ranks number one on a search engine for anything other than “Elsja” is a happy day for me.

2. Family toilet Slave stories. Ok… I don’t know what is worse- this one or the “Lesbian toilet slave stories” search from a few weeks ago. I’m going to have to say that I think this one is worse. And I think it’s great that now that I’ve posted about this a few times, I’ll be even higher up on search results for this bullshit.

And my favorite…

1. Lime Poo. It’s just funny.

Google Searching September 19, 2008

So all my blogging friends always have these great stories of how people find their sites. With our traffic trackers, we are able to see what people type into google before they click on the links to our pages. Until today, no one has ever typed ANYTHING interesting into google to find my site. The most common search term that leads people to me is Arnold Schwarzenegger… all due to a photo I used of him in one of my “sweaty men at the gym are gross” posts… go figure. But today, there was a real winner!

Someone googled: “Lesbian toilet slave stories”

Seriously… what is wrong with people??? Naturally, I was very curious as to how that search actually lead them to my site. I mean, I don’t really remember writing any lesbian toilet slave stories recently.

Well leave it up to good ol’ SPAM commenting to bring me readers. I used to get really annoyed with these bullshit comments. I’ve spent hours upon hours deleting them left and right and there’s just no way to make them stop. But now I’ve realized something…Spam comments on my blog like “black girls deep throat” and “women flashing their panties” are actually bringing traffic to my site!! Probably not the type of people I want reading my blog, but traffic nonetheless.

Maybe I’ll leave a few of those random comments up from time to time. Never know what kind of freaks they will attract!

A Work in Progress July 24, 2008

So my geeky forum is still a work in progress… BUT… it’s up and running! Woohoo. I still have a lot to learn and things to modify but I figure I may as well put it out there so people can start checking it out!

Like I said before, 99.999% of you will have no interest in this forum whatsoever- BUT, if any of you happen to stumble upon this blog (or even read it regularly) and know someone who is dating or married to a pilot, please please please pass along the following link.

www.lovemypilot.com

The girl who runs the ex-pat forum I’m a member of said it took her forum years to really take off, so I have to be patient. At least it can be a hobby and something to keep me busy (not that I really need to spend any more time on the internet). Yay nerdy Elsja!

A New Project July 22, 2008

I’ve started a new project. I’ve migrated into uber geekdom by starting my own nerdy online forum. I’ve been inspired by my other geeky Americans in Australia forum so I decided I’d create my own place to waste time online! It’s still a work in progress, but it’s coming along. Unfortunately I’d say 100% of my readers (all 10 of you) will really have no interest in my nerd club whatsoever. That is because it is tailored to people who are dating or are married to pilots. Hey… I didn’t really have any other topics that I could think of. This will take the time I waste on the internet to a whole new level. I don’t exactly know what I’m getting myself into here… but hey- it can be a hobby of sorts. I even bought a domain name. Now I just have to find people who actually want to join!

I’ll let you all know when it’s up and running. I don’t know why I’ll let you know since none of you have any interest unless you date a pilot. But still… I’ll let you know. Just because.

Ok you can all start making fun of me now.

I Love the Internet November 20, 2007

Maybe I’m just slow- but I just discovered igoogle.

This is the best thing ever!!! I’ve always kinda wished there was something like this and now there is- in fact, there probably has been for a long time, but I just didn’t pay any attention. Needless to say, I stumbled upon igoogle today and I’m hooked. For those of you who don’t know, it’s a customizable page (I make it my home page) where you can add calendars, mapquest, weather, and news. But that’s not all- for those of you who have facebook- you will be familiar with adding applications to your page. Well with igoogle, it is very similar. You can add gidgets or gadgets or something and so you can have all these fun tools on your homepage and you can lay it out however you want. I’ve added a few things to my home page that I use every day- like my bookmarks, a currency converter, recipe finders, etc.

You can also customize the skin/theme of the page. I selected some China background and after I selected it it asked me where I am located. Evidently, the sun will dynamically set on the theme as the sun sets in my own backyard! Fancy stuff!

I also added a link on my page to the video feeds from my other new favorite site:

Start Cooking

Now this website is exciting as well. I can cook, but I never really learned “the basics.” I can create fancy pasta and stir fry dishes nearly from scratch, yet I find myself asking my mom stupid questions like- how long do you bake a potato?

Soooo this site has tons of super fun and easy tips for beginers and a lot of useful ideas and hints just for every day cooking needs. Thanks to my friend’s sister Megan for turning me on to this site. Jen’s probably been aware of it for months since she’s a big blog reader- but I’m a little slower at these things!

Yay for fun geeky internet finds.

So Much to Do… August 12, 2007

While moving is exciting and fun, it is also hard work. And moving to a different country is even freaking harder. People probably dont realize all that I must do… just be glad you don’t have to do all this stuff!!

1. Buy a ticket

2. Plan shipping for all my stuff, arranging for shipping insurance and hiring movers to pack everything. This also includes creating an itinerary of everything I own- EVERYTHING! Also including how much each item costs, and also once these things are packed I have to write down what is in each and every box). FYI- so far this list consists of over 150 items. Imagine writing down every fork, pillow and sheet you own. UGH! Oh and I won’t go into all the forms I need to fill out!

3. Buy transformers so I can plug in my American TV. (electrical please… when I went to radioshack they thought I was talking about Optimus Prime).  And no, you can’t just use those little plug adaptors- that would be too easy. No no, you have to buy transformers with specific voltage, wattage and other crap. Andrew and I still can’t figure out why votage and plug shapes are different in every dang country.

4. Figure out my health insurance situation. I won’t even explain this one…

5. Phones: I will be buying a skype in number (714) so that friends and family can call me for free. I also need to create a skype account for my parents and buy them a skype phone and then buy myself one too when I get to Sydney. I will need to get a new cell phone once I’m there.

6. And then there was the issue of what to do with my car… that was a stressful one… but thankfully it is allllll situated now

7. Hiring someone new at my work since I will be leaving. Hopefully that one will be completed early this week! I’ll still be working, but only part time- and obvioulsy I won’t be working from the office

8. Get a new bank account that will allow me to withdraw money in Australia without charging me a shitload of fees for using “non Bank of America ATMs”. But that won’t even solve my problem of getting charged every time I use a debit card to buy groceries and crap so I will  also need to get an Australian account once I am there.

Seriously… that’s not even all… but I figure you’ve probably all been bored reading this. 

So on that note, I’ll show you all my new painting that I painted for my future bedroom (I also threw in a picture of the new bedding I bought too.)

Wine Charms July 28, 2007

I’m finally posting some pics. I still don’t love them, but they were my first, well technically 2nd attempt at making cute wine charms. I still don’t think I’ve found an idea that really works for me but I said I would post pictures, so I am. Now I need a dinner party to use them at.

 

 

Crafty McCrafterson Update July 15, 2007

So it looks like my crafty skills require a bit of practice. I probably should stick to painting but I really want to be crafty too! I finally got a chance to make the wine charms I was hoping to create. Well, lets just say that my first attempt was… not what I was hoping for. But I had an epiphany today of another idea and so I gave it a shot! So far so good, but I have to wait for the resin to dry and harden before I can finish them so we’ll see what happens. These ones were a lot easier to make than my first versions (I attempted to paint bottlecaps, turns out paint doesnt stick well to metal).

Anyways I decided I love resin and I want to think of other uses for this fun product; however, it’s pretty dangerous and it says not to breath in the fumes- but I never actually smell fumes so I don’t know if I was breathing them in. Probably not a good thing- if I start convulsing out of the blue, you’ll know why. The box also said we should wear gloves… eh… didn’t do that either. Also probably wasn’t a good idea to do my project in the kitchen, where I cook and eat. Eh.. whatev.   I’ll post pictures in the next few days.

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I Need a Cocktail July 14, 2007

A timeline of my life for the last day: 

13 hours: amount of time the alarm on my phone kept going off all by itself.

20 minutes: amount of time I spent attempting to restart, restore back-ups, etc… to get this to stop occurring.

30 minutes: amount of time spent at the Sprint service center today where they were able to delete everything from my phone to stop the alarm from going off uncontrollably. I also ask why all my calls are getting dropped in my house lately and he says I need to go to the palm website to download software updates.

20 minutes: amount of time spent searching online for software updates, only to find NOTHING. I see a customer service number… and low and behold- its a SPRINT number…. um didn’t sprint tell me to contact palm? but Palm says contact sprint. MAKE UP YOUR MIND PEOPLE.

30 minutes: amount of time I’ve spent so far updating all my contacts and synching data back to my phone

25 minutes: amount of time I was on hold initially before a nice man answered my call and told me, “oh you need tech support for that” (evidently, choosing the tech support option when you first call does jack shit. I was just sent to customer service). The guy says “I know you have been waiting, let me just place you on hold for 1 or 2 minutes and I will transfer you to tech support.”

1 hour: amount of time “1-2 minutes” actually translates to

1 hour, 27 minutes and 48 seconds: amount of time I have been on hold with Sprint.

I’m pretty sure my call is just not even in the queue to be answered anymore, but I’m just curious how long I could possibly sit here on hold waiting for them to answer. I think I’ll just keep the call going and then I plan on writing a big fat complaint letter to sprint letting them know just where they can shove their piece of shit customer service. Usually I’ve never had a big problem, but today’s experience makes my many years of good customer service just get tossed out the window.

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UPDATE:

15 minutes: amount of time spent writing a complaint to customer service.

4: attempts I made to submit the complaint

Final result when submit button is pushed:

Rain Check July 8, 2007

So I couldn’t really practice my Martha Stewart skills this weekend. I couldn’t find bottle caps anywhere to make my nifty wine charms, so I finally accepted the fact that I’d just have to order them online. A 2 buck bag of bottle caps is going to cost about 11 after shipping. Lame. But it’s still 50 caps so I can make a lot of wine charms (if I even figure out how to do it). I’m pretty impatient and when I decide I want to do something, I like to do it right then and there… so waiting until next weekend to make my fun crafts is really annoying, but I guess it’s what I have to do.

In addition to making my wine charms, I’ve decided that in the next few weeks, I’d like to do the following:

1. Make white Sangria. I have 2 recipes and I can’t decide which one I want to use, but as soon as I have a reason, I will be making sangria to share. Maybe we can have a girls day at Jen’s pool next week. Whatya say? 

2. Discover more crafts I’d like to make. Also, I eventually want to paint a picture I’ve been envisioning for awhile… but I haven’t determined which color scheme to use yet so it will have to wait.

3. Find some cute martini glasses and a fun sake set to buy and add to my collection of house stuff that is piling up on my bedroom floor.

5. Continue finding great stuff on the internet that I like to look at. (see my new “Fun Stuff I Like” links on the right)Additionally, here are some other fun new things that I like and want:

How cute are these ice cubes? It would take days to have enough to fill a few glasses, so since they are so cheap, maybe I’ll buy a few. Who knows, I probably won’t buy any, but I do like them.

This apron is so cute. I can’t decide if I like green or turquoise, but I decided green is best because it will match all my other green kitchen tools.

Ok so this one is a little pricey, but I really want to go on picnics with Andrew one day, so I will need to invest in a cute picnic bag at some point. I’ll probably need to find a cheaper one though because I really cant justify spending $80 on a picnic bag.

There are just so many cute things I find on a daily basis, I just want them all.

Crafty McCrafterson July 6, 2007

I decided to become a crafter. It’ll probably last a day and then I’ll get over it. But who knows… maybe my newfound (potential) hobby will continue past this weekend!

My First project:

Wine Charms.

No, I didn’t make these… but I will. In case you dont know what these are- they are little charms you place on the stems of your wine glasses when you have numerous people sipping the lovely fruit of the vine in your humble abode. These charms help identify whose glass is whose. These would have been of great assistance to me when I almost drank a glass of wine with a roach in it… ok- way off topic…

So I am jacking this girl’s idea for these charms and I will make them this weekend. Although I don’t know exactly what I’ll put on them- maybe ill use pictures like she did or maybe ill just paint crap. We’ll see how they turn out. If they turn out fabulous- I’ll take pictures and post them for all to see. If they turn out looking like dirt… we’ll forget I ever wrote this post.

 

And just to end this blog on a totally random note I will post a quote from my cute boyfriend (remember, it’s winter there):

It’s so cold. Your nipples would look awesome here at the moment.

HAHAHHAHAHAHA

Update July 1, 2007

Well we did it!! It’s official.  

Old Islands Website  

New Islands Website

What do you think???