Elsja Down Under

Happy Birthday Fiance October 30, 2009

Ok, it’s a little late- but I’ve been busy. Wednesday the 28th was the only day I will every get to say Happy Birthday to my dearest fiance. Next year I’ll be saying it to my wonderful husband. This week Andrew turned 29 years old. That means after a month and a half of being older than him, we are finally the same age once more! We celebrated his birthday last Friday with some of his pilot friends at a restaurant called Waqu. It was a miniature degustation menu filled with all sorts of seafood and beef. Luckily they also had a vegetarian option as well. There were 15 of us in our own private room and everyone brought some wine and good conversation. So then we celebrated again on his ACTUAL birthday at Soprano’s in Mosman. Deeeeelish pizza and good friends (plus Andrew’s brother Paul and girlfriend Veronica) made the night a really good one. We even got Andrew a free piece of cheesecake and a shot of limoncello to celebrate his old age!

I’ve been waiting to post this blog because I wanted to upload pictures to go with it. Yeah, well… I lag. Finally I decided to forget the pics and post my blog anyways. If I keep waiting, you might not have anything new to read for like a month and by then the birthday would be WAY over. That’s no fun.

For Andrew’s birthday I decided to get him tickets to this ghost tour thingy in Manly. So last night we went on the tour of the old Quarantine Station.  It was really quite interesting but unfortunately I did not see or hear anything weird. I’d LOVE to see a freaking ghost. The guide told us all these stories about things they’ve seen or heard on the tours there, but what did we see? Nothing!  What did we hear? Nothing! Pretty bogus. I was hoping to see some freaky crap but unfortunately there was nothing worth noting. Probably a good thing though, Andrew might have freaked if we actually saw something supernatural. There was one time where I definitely saw this shadow moving around off in a building far away. Everyone started looking and we were all super excited until we realize it was just another tour group passing through. Oh well.

Do you want to know what the best part of the whole week was? Well, it was GREAT spending Andrew’s birthday with him (as you will recall, we didn’t always get to see each other on our birthdays due to a little something called the Pacific Ocean) but the most EXCITING part of the week was when I decided to try my ipod out just ONE more time today. I wanted to listen to some tunes while I cleaned the house. Well, I put my ipod on the speaker dock and much to my amazement, the little apple symbol appeared and then so did my music.

It’s a MIRACLE!

My ipod has risen from the dead and I’m so happy. I had a super busy/stressful week at work but Andrew’s birthday and my ipod miracle made it all worthwhile. The bottles of champagne and wine tonight with friends helped as well. But my bitchy ass whore neighbor did put a bit of a damper on the night. I’ll have to vent about her later. Stay tuned  for that one.

Until then, goodnight and happy birthday once again to my wonderful love. XO

Love September 25, 2009

Andrew and I won’t be taking engagement photos (unless some lovely photographer in Sydney would like to take some for us for free) – but we were fortunate to take some awesome shots back in June when we went to California- so let’s just pretend these are engagement photos, shall we?

 My BFF is an aspiring photographer who wanted to practice out her developing photo snapping skills so she asked if she could take some shots of us in the park. I was happy to oblige (and so was Andrew which is highly surprising since he HATES photos). They turned out great! I just thoguht I’d share a few of my favorites with the world. I just love my dearest fiance SO much and these pictures of us make me happy! Oh and Jen- if this post sounds a lot like yours, I must tell you that I wrote this last night- I just hadn’t published it yet.

My Dreams Have Come True August 9, 2009

“My dreams have come true” were the exact words I used when I called my best friend in the middle of the night to tell her that Andrew and I got engaged. It just spilled out of my mouth and it couldn’t be more true.

When I was younger (like teenager young) I used to lay in bed at night and pray for a boyfriend or at least for a boy to like me. Pathetic I know. Not many boys ever did, but I did have a few boyfriends. Of course none of them were right for me. Several of them were great people, but they were just meant to be with someone else. I was meant to be with someone else. I was meant to be with Andrew. I should point out that I do not believe in soul mates. I think it’s a bunch of BS… but I do have to believe there WAS something special that brought Andrew and I together. There were just too many obstacles that COULD have gotten in our way- but luckily they didn’t. Even the Pacific Ocean couldn’t keep us apart!

So on Friday, August 7th- Andrew proposed and I am SO happy. It was the best feeling ever- I only wish I wasn’t so shocked so maybe I would remember it more clearly!! I know several of you have asked for a story- so here it goes.

I had been sitting around in my grungy clothes and nappy greasy hair all day while I worked. In the late afternoon, Andrew asked if I wanted to go for a walk. It was beautiful weather outside and I was feeling quite lazy and knew I should get off my butt, so I said ok. I put on some workout clothes, put back my greasy hair and did NOT bother to put makeup on. I looked horrendous.

We walked down to middle head (a place we do walk to from time to time). It was starting to get a bit windy as we got down there and Andrew seemed to be in a rush to get to somewhere. He blamed it on the impending bad weather. My thoughts were “if it’s going to rain, why don’t we just go back?” But I followed him anyways.

We got to this little secluded point that overlooks the entrance to Sydney Harbour and I sat down. A few seconds later he asked me to stand up. That was my first hint that something was up. Why was he asking me to stand? Then he took both my hands in his, that was my second clue that this was not just a normal walk. I can’t remember word for word what he said due to my shock, but it did include “I love you, I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” Then he got on one knee, pulled a box out of his pocket, opened it and said “will you marry me?”

I was NOT one of those girls that forgets to say yes. I said yes immediately and gave him a big hug. I didn’t cry- I think I was too shocked- plus if you know me, you know I don’t cry easily unless I’m really frustrated or PMSing. I did forget though that he needed to put the ring on. So he told me to put my hand out so he could slip it on. As he did he said “size 6″- it was cute, like he was confirming that he bought the right size. It fit perfectly and I love it!!

Then Andrew surprised me by pulling out 2 mini champagne bottles and some glasses out of his backpack. We sat and enjoyed the moment as the sun was going down and the clouds were rolling in. He called a few people and hearing him tell others that we just got engaged actually made me tear up a bit more. It was so weird to hear it!

Once the weather started looking really bad, we decided to head back. We had quite a trek ahead of us and it started raining on us and the cold front came in so the temperature dropped and we were freezing!! We even started running at one point just to build some body heat. We finally made it home and I got to call and wake up my mom & dad, my sister and my best friend.

They were ALL so happy and so excited!! None of them seemed to mind that I woke them up at 1:30 am I think my favorite reaction of that night was from my niece- because it was just so sweet. I found out the next day that when my sister got off the phone with me, she went and kissed Emma (thinking she was sleeping) and said “I love you.”  Emma said “I love you too.” So Bronwen’s reaction was “you’re awake??” She figured she’d tell her about us so she said “guess what? Pilot Andrew is really going to be your uncle now.” Emma’s reaction… “I love Andrew.”

I love him too Emma!!

Revenge May 25, 2009

And now for the tale of Andrew’s revenge. It’s not really that great, and I’ve probably built it up over the last few days… but the truth is- I was just too lazy to post about it then.

So the other night as I was brushing my teeth, Andrew was singing as he was walking around the apartment and I made some snotty face at him. The face was NOT due to his singing, but rather something else obnoxious that he had done (I can’t even remember what it was). So he proceeds to tell me that I always make snotty faces when he sings.

Well… I DO NOT!

I reminded him that my face was due to his other obnoxious action and asked him to take his comment back. He refused. I asked again. He refused. So I finally took my toothbrush (full of foamy toothpaste) and wiped it on his face. I then went to the bathroom to finish brushing my teeth and to wait for the impending revenge that I KNEW would take place. I so wanted to lock the bathroom door, but our door sucks and even when it’s locked you can just push it open. I knew I was in for it –  I just didn’t know what the revenge would be, so I kinda just stood their brushing and waiting.

I heard him coming… I started to cringe. I kinda expected him to pour water on me or something innocent like that. If only I were so lucky.

No, he decided to come and shove his finger in my mouth and smear it on my face. A finger full of Vegemite. This is probably one of the last things you want shoved in your mouth as you are brushing your teeth. Vegemite is supposed to be spread THINLY on a slice of bread (and even then it is still repulsive if you ask me) but you are DEFINITELY not supposed to eat a big clump of it.

I just sat there with my mouth open trying to decide how to deal with this situation without vomiting. It was all over my toothbrush and face! SO GROSS. Eventually I was able to get my teeth, tongue, face and toothbrush all cleaned up by breathing through my mouth and just rinsing (without swishing). Luckily it’s not too sticky so it all washed out pretty easily with minimal contact to taste buds.

Seriously though, that was mean revenge on his part. Wiping toothpaste on someones face is much nicer than nearly making someone puke! I guess should think twice before I wipe my toothbrush on his face again!

Caring for Animals August 4, 2008

My boyfriend is so caring… Free range eggs are one thing that he actually spends a bit more money on at the grocery store, even though caged eggs are cheaper. Ok maybe he thinks they taste better but I like to think he actually cares about the chickens. Here’s a conversation we had today…

 Andrew says:

i think these are cage eggs

they taste different

ew really?

they taste abused

Oh PS… I’m back in California. Enjoying the sun and warm weather. Andrew will be here next Tuesday! I bet you are all SO excited

Leaving on a Jet Plane May 9, 2008

Well, this post tackles two topics, both regarding flying.
First of all, we’ll be flying to Maui later this evening!! YAY! This will be the first trip andrew and I are taking together on a plane in the entire 2 1/2 years we’ve been together.

Airports are usually full of sadness. I’m always saying goodbye to someone. It used to be Andrew all the time and those days were HARD. Now when I travel I’m saying bye to Andrew or my family and friends. It will be SO nice to go to an airport for the first time in years and NOT have to say goodbye. Instead we’ll be saying ALOOOOOOHA!

We’ll be staying with my sister and the kids so it will be great to see everyone… Andrew hasn’t seen them all in a year and a half!
We’ll be flying Qantas… which is ironic because soon, someone I love will be actually FLYING Qantas… yes… actually flying the plane (or at least hanging out in the cockpit!)

That’s right! Andrew got accepted into Qantas! He’s been flying for Qantaslink (Eastern) for the last 9 months but his goal his whole life has always been to fly for Qantas on the big jets. Well a few days ago he found out that he’s been accepted for a Second Officer postition. It’s actually way less work and responsibilities than he has now (which isn’t necessarily a good thing) but it’s a lot more money and holds a much better future.

He probably won’t start until December or so but at least he’s in line! He had his interview and Sim test 5 weeks ago and he wanted to keep it a secret from everyone. He was supposed to find out within 3 weeks and this week was #5, so you can imagine how agonizing and stressful the last few weeks have been.

Who knows… maybe one day Andrew will be the one flying the plane to Hawaii!!

For My Love… September 14, 2007

…who is bummed that all my posts lately seem to be about things I will miss when I leave – (even though in that picture over there I know he is just thinking about how excited he is that I am coming soon)!

Here is a list of things I am looking forward to In Australia!

1. Seeing Andrew (especially in his new pilot uniform with hat and all!)

2. Hugging Andrew

3. Kissing Andrew

4. Thai food from one of the 3 fab places by his house… or maybe even a new one or two. But we definitely will NOT be going back to Chili Lime Too!

5. Being able to walk to the grocery store to buy food for lunch, or dinner… or anything really

6. Working in the mornings and going to the beach in the afternoons.

7. Going out in all new places.

8. More wine tasting weekends… I hope we get to do more of those!

9. Being able to go on beautiful walks.

10. Cooking and drinking wine with Andrew.

11. Another summer!

12. Getting to skip the dark part of the year when daylight savings time ends.

13. Not having to count down the days before we have to say goodbye again.

14. Maltesers  and Tim Tams (even though I can get these at Cost Plus… it’s more exciting in Sydney)

15. And finally (because I have to end this list at some point)… the most important one of all. – Starting my life with the boy I love more than anything!

About That Time August 15, 2007

For another session of things I love/don’t love

1. I love my cool new see through blue citibank ATM card. Yes, I’m serious… I really am happy that it looks so pretty.

2. I don’t love that I have 2 bank accounts. I like to be organized so I can’t wait to just make the big transfer so that everything can all be in one account and I wont get confused where my money is.

3. I don’t love that in a little over a week, almost everything I own will be taken from my house and put on a boat. I’m a little scared and sad to part with everything. I hope the boat doesnt go through any hurricanes on the way to Sydney. And… I don’t love that I’ll basically live out of a suitcase for TWO MONTHS!

4. However; I love that my room will finally be clean once everything is gone. For the last 2 weeks I’ve just been piling crap everywhere in 2 rooms of my house. No sense in putting it away because I’ll have to just drag it all out again next Saturday.

5. I love the delicious Trader Joes pasta my sister made for dinner. Takes 6 minutes to make and its soooo delish!

6. I love that we hired someone at my work to help us out! He doesn’t start for 2 weeks but he hopefully will be a BIG help.

7. I love eating salad from Panera EVERY day.

8. I love that I got an email today informing me that Muse will be playing in Sydney in November!! I’m TOTALLY dragging Andrew even though he hates them. Such perfect timing for the Australia leg of their tour. And sydney is the 4th show in australia so they should be over their jet lag by then so they will perform well! Yes, I thought this all out!

9. I don’t love figuring out health insurance issues for when I move. It really really is a pain in the ass!

10. Lastly, I love Andrew and I can’t believe that it will be almost 6 months by the time we finally see each other again.

It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… July 25, 2007

Yes, actually it really is a plane. And guess who’s inside that plane??? That’s RIGHT! Andrew! Do you see him??? See… right there… there he is! He’s sitting in the cockpit of that plane, with all those passengers in the back. and maybe a hostie (flight attendant) is even bringing him lunch right at this very moment.

That’s because today is my boyfriend’s first day actually FLYING the planes for Qantaslink. I bet he looks so cute in his uniform (isn’t it sad that I don’t even know how he looks because I can’t see him? boohoo). He’s been studying and training for a few months now and finally there he is… in that plane! Well, maybe not THAT particular plane, but you get the picture!

Now, he is an amazing pilot and has finished with higher scores than other people in his courses. BUT, I have to admit that if I didn’t know any better… I don’t think I woud be too happy if I were one of those passengers and I knew it was his first day on the job. HEHEHEHAHAHA Luckily they won’t know! 

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

Miss Me June 20, 2007

When I was in Texas, I sent Andrew a text that said:

“It’s so cute here… they call everyone “miss”… Miss Jan, Miss Tammy, Miss Jackie”

His response was:

“That’s cute, but I just MISS YOU!”

 

hehehe

My First Officer May 25, 2007

Well it’s official… so now I can finally blog about it

Andrew got offered a job with Qantaslink (Eastern Airlines). Real passengers, real flight attendants, real airport security, real cheap buddy pass tickets for me (eventually).

I’m so proud that he got a good flying job! I knew he could do it, I had no doubts.

 

�

I’m Alive March 24, 2007

In regards to my last post… particularly the part where I say ” It looks pretty sunny right now so hopefully the weather report was wrong.” – yeah… well, actually the weather report wasn’t wrong.

I have to admit, it was really really fun flying home in a 10 seater plane in the pitch dark. Since I was sitting in the co-pilot seat I had a great view of black out the front window. Basically felt like we were just going to run into something at any time. BAM… we would all be dead. But nope, we didn’t hit anything.  And that was only the begining of the fun.

The only thing better than seeing absolutely NOTHING out the front window of the plane was seeing rain clouds zoom by us at a million miles per hour. When our plane started jumping up and down and swaying left to right, and the clouds zooming by suddlenly were going up and down out the side window- I wasn’t scared at all. Nope. Not AT ALL. The rain pouring down really loud was not scary either. And I didn’t even feel like I was going to barf either… not at all. My hands didnt have red marks from holding on to the seatbelt for dear life. I didn’t close my eyes for half the flight either.

I think my favorite part of the whole flight was when the lady behind us started puking. The sound effects and smell really added to the relaxation of the flight.

The 50km hour per winds during landing…. well those were really relaxing and calm as well.

Such a smooth relaxing flight home. Not bumpy or turbulent or scary.

Ok ok I’m lying. All of the above is false. I was scared for my life, I did feel like I was going to puke and I did have marks on my hands from holding on for dear life. Oh- but the lady barfing… unfortunately that is 100% true.

Luckily my fabulous boyfriend is such a good pilot that we all survived the horrific weather. I was very happy to be on the ground and out of the storms. And out of the experience, I got a free hangover for the rest of the night (and I didn’t even drink).

Other than the death defying flight home- the night was nice. Went to the wine country, had a nice dinner. It was a cool night out and the best part is that Andrew got paid for us to do it all.

Oh, and then we came home and killed 13 mosquitos in Andrew’s room before we went to bed. That was fun too.

 

G’day From Down Under March 11, 2007

Well my first weekend here in Sydney is over and I have already accomplished all my goals for my trip:

Seeing my boyfriend- check

Eating yummy Thai food- check

Lying in the sun- check

But, I do plan on doing all these things continuously throughout the next 3 weeks as well

Our first weekend was nice. Beautiful weather- sunny and warm. It was perfect for our trip to the beach, a BBQ & for going out at night wearing a dress- haven’t done that in forever!! Saturday we spent a few hours shopping at a mall to find a new duvet -(another extremely large mall that you could totally get lost in- like my last experience here). They even had a store that looked very similar to Crate and Barrel, this made me very happy since I love that place:) It looked so much like C & B that Andrew asked the staff inside if it was a related store. The girl smirked and said no, it’s just similar. I found this very odd since the name of the store was WHEEL AND BARROW…  hmm sounds oddly like CRATE AND BARREL… Strange.

After shopping we spent several hours at Andrew’s friend Tim’s house. Tim is from the U.S. and coincidentally just happened to live in Huntington Beach for several years. We had a good time but we were a little out of our element because I think we were the only couple with no kids. Tim’s mother-in-law made some fabulous rice salad… I can’t even explain it but it was wonderful. I will make every attempt possible to get the recipe so you can all try it.

Later that night, we met up with Andrew’s younger brother Ben and his friends. You see, the drinking age here is 18 and Ben just had his 18th birthday a few weeks ago. Andrew asked if I minded hanging out with a “bunch of 18 year olds” and I said of course not because it was his brother and friends. Well, what i didnt realize is that the club/bar we went to was going to be ALLLLL 18 year olds too. And I guess the 80’s fashion is still in style here because there were girls wearing sweatbands on their heads and other obnoxious, hideous 80’s styles. Luckily not everyone was so out of date… It was $15 bucks to get in!!! Geez… we almost said no way in hell- but then found out drinks were only 3 bucks each so we figured it would even out. Yeah- it probably would have if we stayed long enough to buy a few drinks. The line at the bar was probably 20 minutes long so we only waited in it once…and it was so strange to see a bunch of high-school aged guys and girls ordering alcohol. I just am not used to that since we can’t drink til 21.

Sooo anyways… yesterday Andrew and I went to Balmoral beach for a few hours and then went and saw his mom and his brothers Simon and Ben for a few. We ate some yummy cherry cake that his mom made and drank some tea- which was good but i think it was making me sweat since it was just so hot out. We watched Ben’s skydiving video- it was pretty crazy. Definitely looks fun, but I don’t think I’d ever have the guts to do it.  Then we went to his dads, hung out for a bit and watched the last episode of heroes and ate some dinner.  It was a nice relaxing day- really hot, but nice

Today is gloomy and windy and grey out. I got up this morning with a determination to go running down to Cremorne point (I decided I wont gain 8 lbs on this trip like I did on the last one). I was happy to see it looked kinda cooler out- but then I realized that may not be a good thing since it kinda looked like it was going to rain. Well I took my chances and ran/walked anyways and luckily the rain clouds spared me. Andrew is at work today so I just did some work and ran some errands etc… nothing really too exciting to report- other than the fact that we are getting some more Thai food tonight. YEESSS!

Ok I’ll stop now. I know this is too long for most people to read without getting bored… but I had a whole weekend to report on. I really lag with pictures this trip. I’ve only taken a few so far. Seems like the pictures get less and less with each trip. I guess I can only take photos of the same things so many times before no one really cares anymore

Hope everyone had a nice weekend in the U.S.A

Au Revoir March 7, 2007

I’m off in a few hours. I’m looking forward to seeing my boyfriend, eating yummy Thai food, lying in the sun, and all that other fun stuff I do while I’m in Australia.

Maybe there will be some thunder/lightning storms too since there have been A LOT of those lately… see…

I’m not really looking forward to the 15 hour plane ride, but hopefully they have On Demand movies and I can watch all the Oscar movies that I haven’t seen yet. Then I can take a sleeping pill and snooze with my wonderful cuddly Nap Travel Cuddle Blanket.

I’ll be back in April! Enjoy the month of March without me and I’ll see you all in a few weeks.