Christmas Eve

Just a quick note to say that Lara's going home on Jan 8th. :(

Here's us looking HOT (hehehe) in Joanne's with our 4th of July headbands.

I love you lots, Lara, and I know we'll see each other again. Unfortunately, since I'm going to Pittsburgh tomorrow and Lara's heading off to New York on the 28th, this was our 2nd last weekend together, and I already ruined it by getting sick yesterday. I'm still sick today so might not be able to see her.

In other news, Aspen was just stunning. Like, breathtaking.

That's the view from the parking lot of our apartment.

I mostly spent my time not sleeping and wandering around town. Apparently Heidi Klum, Seal and Mariah Carey were in town, but I didn't see them. :( Dammit!!! Lol.

The sleighride was quite possibly the most fantastic experience ever. I wish the photos of the mountains surrounding us came out well, but take my word for it, the views were stunning. And the stars! Gorgeous. We got picked up by a horse and carriage in front of the apartment and were taken to the golf course to do the sleighride. Then afterwards we got horse and carriage delivered to the apartment. All of my photos of the night include the kids in them, so I can't put them up, but just take my word for it.

Unfortunately, whilst we were in Aspen, Denver had a huge blizzard and was closed for a few days. Luckily though, it opened again at lunchtime on Friday, the day we were leaving, and our flight out of denver was at 3:55. The "unfortunately" part comes from the fact that for some reason Aspen airport was closed. WTF?? It was a perfect day. They made the decision at 1am that day. And the only way for us to get to Denver to make the flight? We had to get a taxi to take us. :O Yes, that's right. It was a nice one, but it was a 5 hr drive and cost F&J $800! But it was that or have to stay in Aspen til tomorrow evening (Christmas) and pay $600 p/night for the apartment.

The drive was stunning though.

That was pretty much the view the entire way. =) And it didn't feel like a 5hr drive at all.

Denver Airport was nuts though. The security line literally snaked around the entire rectangular shape of the airport, almost doubling up on itself. John is part of the star alliance thingy that lets him go on this shorter line, so we went straight through. I felt so bad for the people in an hour and a half wait though.

So that was our holiday.

I think the lack of sleep has caught up with me because I have a fever today and my glands are all swollen. I think I'm just exhausted. :( I'm going to try and rest as much as possible today, but I still have to finish my Christmas shopping and wrap my gifts, cos we're going to Pittsburgh tomorrow for a few days to spend time with John's family.

So if I don't get a chance to get online before we leave,

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!!

The Psychic

Just came back from the psychic. I spent a grand total of 7 minutes with her and $50. Lol. But it was fun. I think I should have gotten my tarot cards read instead because at least it might have taken longer, and I would have saved $10.

She told me I'm doing the right thing by staying here. She said that there's dysfunction and depression at home, and she felt that I will be too depressed if I'm in that situation. She said I feel lonely and conflicted at the moment, but to stick it out and think of my path clearly and it will be fine. She also said that she sees teaching in my future, and that next year I will be concentrating on that. She said I've been working a lot lately and have been very stressed. Maybe she got that from the dark circles upon circles under my eyes from the lack of sleep I've had since I got here.

She then did the usual relationships thing. BTW, I'll marry an Aussie in my late 20s early 30s and have two kids. Hehehe.

=) I think I was supposed to go in with questions. She kept asking, "Do you have any questions you'd like answered?" and I was like, erm... arrr.... I even asked a stupid question, "Should I work new year's eve?" Apparently, yes. =)

Re. People's comments

Hi all. I just thought I'd respond to a few of the comments this blog has received lately.

I don't know if anyone realises, but this blog reflects how I'm feeling at the time that I post. As with everyone, I have good days and bad days. A lot of the time I find that I'm posting when I have bad days for several reasons:

1. When I'm having a bad day I feel the need to vent my frustrations
2. Often times when things are great I don't have time to actually post
3. I work really long days and am constantly tired, which doesn't bode well for me
4. This is an extreme situation. It's tough to be pulled out of your comfort level and have to deal with situations, issues and people you've never had to face before without your usual support network behind you. That's why I have this blog, so that I can connect with the people I love and need when times are tough.
5. And this is the most important one: I am being positive about things. That's just it. I think that's what makes this situation so hard. I start out everyday trying to be happy and deciding that this will be the day that things click. Then things start chipping away and it's just incredibly hard.

And that's the bottom line.

So maybe take the time to read the whole blog and find out how things have actually been, then pass judgement. Or don't whatever. I'm not fussed.

So,on a completely different note: ASPEN.

Aspen is just stunning. Like, indescribably stunning. I almost wish I enjoyed skiing or snowboarding. Almost. Lol. It ain't that pretty. ;) But it is.

The family head out early (like, 8ish) to go skiing/snowboarding, then I bum around the apartment for awhile trying to nap. Yes, me, trying to nap. Those that know me know that I cannot nap. But I might be suffering from altitude sickness which can manifest in insomnia and headaches, among other things. I definately have the insomnia and headaches part down pat. I tried taking one of John's sleeping tablets last night, but it only worked for about 4 hours, and I woke up at 1:30 and kept tossing the rest of the night. And it's not like I'm not exhausted or anything. Oh well.

There are so many Aussies here. And New Zealanders. And South Africans. And, surprisingly, Chicagoans! Seriously. We've bumped into so many people who are not only from Chicago, but live/d right near us or actually in our suburb! Small world.

I'm not doing much shopping, because the stores don't really cater to the non- rich and famous. Lol. But I've done a lot of window shopping and people watching. I love seeing the typical Aspeners. You know, they're draped in fur, Birkin or Kelly bag in one hand and Gucci or Prada shopping bag in the other. =) Love it!

What else to mention? Not much else. I want to go see the psychic here tomorrow. It's pricey ($50 for psychic reading, or $40 for tarot reading) but I've wanted to go since I saw the sign on the first day. I'm trying to arrange sleighride tonight which will be so exciting if we can do it!

I haven't done as much reading as I was hoping to do. I had brought two extra books on top on the current book I'm reading (The Sorrows of Young Werther) but it just hasn't worked out that way. I might go try and find a cafe to sit in today and just drink coffee and read.

Crisis Averted

Came home from a day at the museum with Kelly. A cheque was on my bed for the next two weeks.

Crisis Averted. =)

-_-

It's been a long week. I've averaged about 5 hours' sleep each night. Sarah was sick Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. At 12 on Thursday I got a call from Jack's school saying he was sick so he stayed home the rest of Thursday and today. It's 7:35 at night and I'm still working. I've had only half a day to myself. And I have my period.

Needless to say, I've cried every day this week.

Jack was a little prick to me this morning and I called poor Emma at 3am Sydney time and sobbed to her. Poor Em. :( I'm sorry, and thank you so much!

I'm about to cry again because I'm so bloody tired. If the kids are home from school sick, why don't thier "parents" come home early from work, if not to see their sick kids, then at least to relieve me so that I'm not working over my 10.5 hours a day or 45 hours a week? I'm sure I've done more than that.

And to top it off, we're off to Aspen on a 6am flight on Sunday morning. And I haven't been paid for next week yet. And America's so bloody backwards that you can't deposit a cheque into an account held in another state. So I don't know why Frances didn't give me next week's pay with my cheque... unless I'm not getting paid for next week... Maybe the holiday is my payment? If it is, then I'm not going. I don't even ski.

I'm just so tired.

Santa's Little Helpers!

So Sunday was the day of the big Christmas party. Lara and I were there to entertain the kiddies. Frances' friend had organised all these crafts and things and we had to help the kids, make sure the DVD player had a Christmas DVD in it and refill the kids' snacks.

Here's how we set the basement up:

Sure, it doesn't look like it, but it was a lot of hard work getting the shower curtains up to hide the rest of the basement, and stringing lighting everywhere. It doesn't sound like it, it was really hard work! But fun. =) We got to wear Santa hats and aprons with the word ELF on it. =)

Oh, and we also had a VERY special visitor....

Bless him. He had all the kids give him their Christmas wish lists and read "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" to them before having to run off to the North Pole to make last minute adjustments to his presents.

So it was a good night. =)

Next week, Aspen!

=)

Sorry about the hiatus. I've just been flat out... lying on my back doing nothing... :P Nah, seriously, I've been very busy.

I've given up on doing a DC post. I just can't muster up the willpower. :(
Here's a few of my fave pics though:



Lara and I in front of the Capitol Building, my absolute fave. It was so bloody impressive. It actually made me jealous of Americans. Lol. I want a building like that!!!!!



Me in front of the absolutely UNimpressive White House. It was too far and you couldn't see it without all the trees in the way.



The balcony where Lincoln was shot in the Ford Theatre.



GOD. I MEAN Lincoln. Seriously though, the way this "memorial" is set up it reminded me of the old pictures of the temple of Zeus and how you'd walk in and there's this big mother Zeus sitting on his throne in all his might waiting for worshippers. Only, ZEUS IS A GOD!!!



FOREST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JENNAY???



Of course, I absolutely HAD to go to Watergate. It's just an apartment block. I was so disappointed. You'd think they'd have a sign saying, "Here's where the Democratic party's offices were" or something. But that's cool. At least I can say I've been there.

So yes. Washington DC, in a nutshell. I'm thinking that I should have taken photos of all the homeless people I saw there, because the place was filled with them. You couldn't walk one block without two or three homeless guys lying down there. It's so sad.

So enough about that. That was SO two weeks ago. ;)

Let me tell you about last weekend.

Well, on Friday morning we'd woken up to find out that IT HAD SNOWED!!!!!!! And not snow like that "snow" we had in October, but real, honest to goodness SNOW! We got about 6 or 7 inches and it's still there. Had my first experience with REAL COLD and PLOWING A DRIVEWAY and SHOVELLING A SIDEWALK. Lol.



Right, now I can go home. Done!

=)

It's very pretty, but sooooooo very cold. Right now it's -10 Celcius, but with windchill feels like -18 (according to weather.com). And it's sunny. Lol.

So it only really snowed Thursday night/Friday morning but the snow is still there a week later. It hasn't started melting at all. And something that I find really funny is that people don't clean the snow off their cars if their cards were parked outside when it snowed. They just dig the car out, turn on the defrosters and drive around with the snow on their roof.



I'll leave this post here but I need to update soon about my weekend with Jen. FYI, we couldn't go to Philli cos O'Hare was snowed in and a whole bunch of flights were cancelled, but our weekend was still awesome.

On the teaching thing, I was all set to add some highschool teaching things to my UAC application, BUT CAN'T FIND ANY COURSES!!! How does that work?

Ok, love you all!