Elsja Down Under

It’s Been Too Long January 20, 2009

So a long time ago, Jen created a blog called “Love/Don’t Love.” So, some of us have followed suit with our own editions of that particular theme at various times in our nerdy blogging pasts. For some of my historical posts… see here:

1. All Grown Up

2. Loves/Don’t Loves for the Week

3. About That Time

4. Yes I’m Copying Jen

So now it’s time for my latest edition since it has just been way too long!

1. I love the Twilight book series. In fact, I don’t just love it… I’m completely and pathetically obsessed with it. Nicole suggested that I join the facebook group entitled “Because I read Twilight, I have unrealistic expectations in men.” I might just have to join. Although I love my wonderful boyfriend dearly…sometimes I think it would be nice if he were a super romantic vampire. I also love that I got my sister obsessed with the books as well… and that even my mom is reading them…I really want to post an entire blog dedicated to my new obsession, but I think I’ll leave that until I finish the whole series.

In the meantime… 

2. I LOVE the Twilight movie. Ok, so they left some stuff  out, but nothing too crucial. Besides, Edward made up for anything they might have left out- he could have just walked back and forth across the screen for 2 hours and I would have been happy. I saw it last night and it just made my gay obsession even stronger and more pathetic.

3. I love that it has been beautiful and sunny the entire time I have been in California.

4. I (don’t) love that I packed the WRONG clothes for beautiful and sunny weather.

5. I love Andrew… I miss him.

6. I (don’t) love saying goodbye to my family and friends.

7. I love my new Sangria/lemonade/other refreshing beverage pitcher that Shannon got me for Christmas.

8. I love that I get really cheap flights.

9. I (don’t) love being on standby and never knowing if I’ll actually GET ON my flights. We shall see tomorrow… but I may be stuck here a bit longer!

10. I (don’t) love that I need about 5 suitcases to get everything home.

11. Did I mention I love the Twilight book series? So far Eclipse (the 3rd book) is my fave… but I’m on to the 4th so we shall see.

12. I (don’t) love that the books are going to end… it will be a sad, sad day in my life.

13. I (don’t) love 14 hour flights… but I don’t mind them so much when I have a 500+ page book to read, 4 episodes of grey’s anatomy and gossip girl to watch and a box full of Ambien.

14. I love French Line “Ruban Bleu” tea. It is the most tasty delish tea ever! So glad I discovered it when my best friends from high school and I went to tea on Sunday (which I also loved).

15. I (don’t) love that I still can’t walk properly and my foot still hurts I really never anticipated this much trouble when I tried to catch that stupid bouquet!

16. Lastly, I love that my parents are coming to visit next month, so even though it will be hard to say goodbye, I’ll get to see them again very soon!

All Grown Up November 7, 2007

So finally at the ever-so-young age of 27, I have moved into my very first apartment. Ok you can all laugh. I know plenty of people do this 8-9 years before I made my first move- but I was just waiting for the right time

Andrew and I moved in to our apartment in Mosman on Sunday. We’re about 15 minutes outside of the downtown area of Sydney. So in the spirit of moving out, I’ve created a “love/ (don’t) love” list, Apartment Edition.

 It’s a long one- but it will give you all an idea about where we are living and all the fun things we are doingÂ

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I love not having roommates (other than Andrew of course).

I love our little balcony. It may be small, but when it is sunny I look forward to sitting out there and eating dinner with my love…(when we buy patio furniture). Oh yeah- p.s.- for all of you who keep saying “must be nice, it’s almost summer there”- it has been raining since Friday. That’s 6 days straight!!! But God was good to us and the only time the sun came out for more than an hour was the day we moved. Luckily we didn’t have to move in the rain!

I (don’t) love the fact that we are on the 2nd floor and the lady below us already came and told us that the eliptical machine we got makes a lot of noise. She was nice, but I need my exercise and the free eliptical we got from Andrew’s dad REALLY would save me tons of money in gym fees.

I (don’t) love the stupid light on the apartment pathway that just happens to be outside our window that shines in like the sun at 3:00am (and every other hour of the night).

I love our new super comfy (and giant) couch.

I love our new vacuum we bought yesterday that sucked all the nasty dirt and possible pet hair from the corners of the carpet. Evidently the professional steam cleaner they hired before we moved in didn’t actually vacuum anything after he “cleaned” the carpets.

I (don’t love) that there is NO storage space inside the apartment, causing us to have to store towels and toilet paper in the kitchen.

which is why:

I love our spacious kitchen with tons of cabinet space.

I (don’t) love the moth problem in this place. I keep killing them and they keep appearing again and again.

I love that we have a washer and dryer in this place- and that the repair man who came today was finally able to get the washer to run with HOT water. Maybe now the towels will actually stop smelling like mildew even after we clean them (yeah - I DON’T love that!!)

I (don’t) love that every time we turn on the hot water- this box under the sink goes “CLUNK CLUNK” – (imagine how it is for me at 4:30am when Andrew gets up for work and needs to fill up the sink with warm water to shave… and then a few minutes later he turns on his hot shower). CLUNK, CLUNK, CLUNK, CLUNK. So annoying.

I (don’t) love that we don’t have a TV

which is why:

I WILL REALLY LOVE when all my stuff gets here… although I do worry that I will have so much stuff and not enough room to fit it all.

AND… I REALLY love that Andrew’s dad gets us any TV shows we want and puts them on our computers. I just watched the first 2 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy and I’m tempted to watch the next two but I need to space it out. It’s like a goldmine because otherwise I’d have to wait a million more years for the season to start here.

I (don’t) love that the 2nd bedroom is so tiny that it will pretty much fit a twin bed and a small desk- that’s it. I dont even know how we’ll have room to pull out the trundle… but I guess I’ll figure that out when my stuff gets here. I’m just happy we even have a 2nd bedroom at all!!

Ok that’s enough!

Oh- this has nothing to do with the apartment, but… I also LOVE the canned raspberries Andrew discovered at the store. They are FABULOUS on lemon sorbet and would be wonderful in lemonade or some kind of fancy cocktails! (I couldn’t have a love/ (don’t) love list that didn’t at least include ONE food item now could I)??

And lastly, I’d like to point out that last night- Andrew said “we’re doing mum and dad things… buying a couch, buying a vacuum…” it was cute, and oh so true. Dang- the day you buy a vacuum- and actually CARE immensly about the quality of suction is the day you have really grown up

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.

Yes I’m Copying Jen April 9, 2007

Here is my version of my loves and (don’t) loves… along with some other thoughts of the week.

1. I love Easter candy, specifically pastel candy corn

2. I love my boyfriend

3. I don’t love my week-long headache from hell. Yes, it literally has lasted a week off and on… mostly on. The other day it was like I had schizophrenia and I couldnt turn the voices off because everything seemed so loud that I just couldnt find a peacful quite spot in my house. Even my peaceful sound machine that sounds like a relaxing babbling brook was driving me nuts when it was on the lowest volume possible. I finally gave in and decided I have migraines even though I don’t see spots and get blurry eyes and crap.

4. I don’t love that Andrew lives over 7000 miles away.

5. I don’t love that he is stressed about finding a new job because the one he has doesn’t give him enough hours/income.

6. I love banana pudding that my mom made yesterday. Too bad everyone ate it all. I really just love most food in general. Most bad food. I’m hungry.

7. I love that I don’t have to wake up at 7 or even 8 every day to go to work.

8. I don’t love my age spots that are becoming so noticable that Jen saw me from across the room thought I had a bruise on my face. I’m not THAT old yet!

 

And here are a few other thoughts for the week:

I don’t understand the people who come to they gym with the following:

1. CD players. Ipods (and other MP3 players) have been out for a million years. Get with the times people.

2. Spandex pants and full butt underwear. If you want to wear the full butt, wear loose pants… if you want to wear spandex- invest in a g-string. SOOO many women do this and I just don’t get it!

3. Pink bras under white shirts. You know that you will be sweating like a pig later and you will look like a trashy sorority wet t-shirt contestant.

4. Regular clothes. If you are going to make the effort to work out, at least make an effort to change out of your jeans, work boots and regular t-shirt. You know after you sweat on the treadmill you wont be showering and changing into something else. Gross.