Head to my Scrapping Blog for some Blog Candy!!!

http://usaustraliascrapbooking.blogspot.com/

Lots of NEW Posts!!

Been so busy with interviews, paperwork, & portfolios...that the only spare time I have I want to escape & started scrapping again. I so need to buy new stuff...
thanks for stopping by!!!

My new toy!!!

Ok, I am going to try and blog everyday over a cup of coffee & the morning news. Even if I don't have any fun or beautiful photos of Australia. LOL. However, I do have one photo for you. I am excited over my new purchase last week. It is a mini combo Multiquick(handblender, whisk, & chopper all in one) and it is small and portable and so easy to clean. So perfect for dips and chopping small amounts of veggies, herbs, etc. LOVE LOVE it!!!!


CHOPPING THE GARLIC FOR MY HUMMUS!

I made homemade Hummus with fresh herbs and ingredients and for a fraction of the cost of buying and it took all of 30 seconds...literally(ok maybe 2 minutes with preperation)

This is all you need for homemade Hummus. So easy and so tasty! and so good for you.

Today, I made a veggie dip with some chives/parsley from my garden and lite sourcream and a bit of cream cheese.

6 Month Anniversary Already!!

This is the wine we had at our Wedding so perfect for the half way point to our 1st Wedding Anniversary. I can't believe we have been married for 6 months. We stayed close to home and had a lovely dinner and cocktails downstairs at Reflections Restaurant.

Isn't he such a cutie? Still recovering from his car accident and I have been the Nurse these past couple weeks. However, I have not received my paycheck in the mail yet. Thanks to all who shared their concerns and prayers for Peter. He actually went back to work today for light duties (thus that is why I have a free moment to blog). Have a great week to everyone and stay cool this summer. The weather here is awesome. It is the beginning of our winter and the weather is gorgeous. Cool in the mornings/evenings, but SUNNY throughout the day with awesome breezes and I am going to do laps in the pool today. Swimming in winter outdoors. LOVE IT!!! That is why they call this the Sunshine Coast. It really is the gem place to live in Australia.

Double Island Point Adventure

This picture is an arial image from the internet but really gives an entire view of where we went today.
The Cooloola Coast lies between the coastal towns of Noosa Heads and Rainbow Beach. The landscape of the Cooloola Coast is a diverse ecological treasure - sculptured by wind and water, and sand washed from river systems for over several million years. Cooloola Coast lies within the Great Sandy National Park, which is one of the largest ‘vegetated sand dune systems’ in the world. Along with its unique wilderness of indigenous flora and fauna - and its historical significance, the region has recently been nominated for ‘World Heritage’ listing.

The coastal strip of Cooloola features high sand dunes, coloured sand cliffs, sand-blows, perched lakes, high dune rainforests, and over 70kms of pristine beaches. Whales can be seen offshore between August and October, while dolphins and manta rays are more regular visitors.

There are plenty of camping spots within the 15km Teewah Beach camping zone, as well as plenty of sites to see such as the spectacular Coloured Sands. Visitors can enjoy bushwalking, camping, picnicking, boating, fishing, lake and surf swimming (although the beaches are unpatrolled) sharks are common and bluebottles are present during northerly winds. Wildflowers bloom on the heathlands in spring, which is the ideal time to visit.

The Cooloola Coast is a popular beach run and is one of the 4WD routes from Noosa to Fraser Island. The Cooloola Way, another 4WD access road into Cooloola, passes through the western catchment and links the Kin Kin-Wolvi Road with Rainbow Beach Road.
Peters good friend was keen to go to Double Island as he is a huge surfer and there has been no surf near us locally for the past couple weeks. There was a southerly swell and Double Point Island sticks out further into the Pacific Ocean, therefor creating a good surf where we locally lie in a shadow for a southerly swell. (As Peter can't surf or do much of anything due to his accident, we went along for the scenery and drive). You have to have a 4WD vehicle to drive the 50km along the Teewah Beach to Double Island. We left at 4:30 am from Camerons house and we were on the beach from the ferry by 5:30 am...Had a picnic eskie packed for the entire day...Breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, and snacks so we pretty much just relaxed and ate the entire day. A little adventure by truck and by foot...Next time I am going to bring my snorkeling gear as it is perfect for snorkeling as well.
We took a drive to the other side of the island during low tide and did some sightseeing...BEAUTIFUL...Wish Peter was 100% so we could have done more exploring and playing, but we only live 45 minutes to the Ferry to access this beautiful piece of land.
LOOKING towards Rainbow Beach...
Behind me is the 50 km Teewah Beach that we drove to get to Double Island Point...
Double Island Point is located just south of Rainbow Beach. The point is a magnet for marine life of every description. Dolphins and whales (the latter from July to November) are a common sight there and Wolf Rock, a formation of four volcanic pinnacles a short distance from the point is rated as one of Australia's top 10 dive spots.

As a dive location, there are plenty of swim throughs, vertical gutters and overhanging ledges to explore. Plunging to a depth of 40 metres, it is excellent for multilevel scuba diving. Fish life is prolific and you're likely to see lots of trevally, cod, coral trout, perch, mackerel, batfish, leopard sharks, wobbegong and the famous resident Grey Nurse sharks. It is home to several giant Queensland groper, and manta ray are frequent visitors. My water bottle/shell storage container. Forgot my sunnies as we left the house at 4 am and no sun so forgot them in the car when we transferred over to our friends truck. These are Camerons stylish sunnies...Thanks

Me collecting seashells...behind me is a perfect place to go snorkeling and I forgot my gear.(WAIT...I have to buy a snorkel as I have goggles and fins...)

NEXT STOP...Fraser Island

Back to my Size 27 Jeans FINALLY!

Anyone who knows me...knows I LOVE JEANS and have way too many. Well I did before I left for Australia...NOW I just have A LOT! I can finally fit into them...so excited. I refused to buy Size 28 jeans as they are a bit pricey so basically I haven't had any jeans that fit me for a very long time...but that was ok as we just finished our summer. I did break down and being realistic bought 2 pair of True Religion shorts to get me through the summer before I left the US.

A small portion of my jean collection...

I made Peter take a picture of me with my jeans on. I was so happy.


Peter wanted Thai for his Birthday...WAIT it has been more like a Birthday WEEK! Can't wait for my Birthday...

Peter's Birthday!!!

We went to Brisbane and just did the city thing. We went to the Eagle Street Pier Art & Craft Market located on the Brisbane River and surrounded by numerous restaurants and cafés.

It was rainy a bit, but didn't stop us from having a great time. Had some wine and appetizers(here they call them entrees). YUM...

Next Stop: Hilton Pool for a little Champange and Hot Tub.

NEXT STOP: IRISH MURPHY'S




We tested the DUI Machine...didn't matter cause we were walking but it is quite funny. apparently by 6pm we both were over the legal drinking limit...

Then we had a lovely dinner at the Hilton...just forgot to take many pictures. Can you believe it? Then we were out for the night. Didn't take many pictures so just imagine... AT THE END OF THE NIGHT WE HAD TO HAVE(I MEAN PETER HAD TO HAVE)....HUNGRY JACKS...aka...BURGER KINGHistory of "Burger King" in Australia
When Burger King moved to expand its operations into Australia, it found that its business name was already trademarked by a takeaway food shop in Adelaide.[1] As a result, Burger King provided the Australian franchisee, Jack Cowin, with a list of possible alternative names derived from pre-existing trademarks already registered by Burger King and its then corporate parent Pillsbury that could be used to name the Australian restaurants. Cowin selected the "Hungry Jack" brand name, one of Pillsbury's US pancake mixture products, and slightly changed the name to a possessive form by adding an apostrophe 's' forming the new name Hungry Jack's.[2] The first Australian franchise of Burger King Corporation was established in Innaloo Perth on the 18th of April 1971, under the auspices of Cowin's new company Hungry Jack's Pty, Limited.[3]
I think this is the first Whopper I have ever had in my life and that night I had TWO. I couldn't even fit it in my mouth and as you see above Peter had NO PROBLEM!!!

YUMMY(Just don't do it every night or you can forget any weight loss)

Networking!! Find Debbie, Sandee & Kelly Crellin, & MIKE Dolan a JOB!!!

IF I MISSED ANYONE JUST LET ME KNOW!!!LOL

I ALSO AM WAITING ON MY TEACHER CERTIFICATION TO GO THROUGH AS WELL SO I ACTUALLY AM STILL UNEMPLOYED!!!

Sometimes it is not always about what you know, but how you network what you do. From the first time I went to Scrapbook 911, I knew what Brenda Reynolds did even before I knew Brenda. And as I got to know Brenda, her personality, integrity, honesty, friendship and how she put people first (wearing her bluetooth and always working...LOL)...LOOK she has her Keller Williams Nametag on. I knew she gave 100% into everything she did. So I had no trouble recommending her to one of my closest friends to list her house. It is so important to network and especially now with everything that is going on with the economy. WE ALL have huge amounts of talent and each person knows another entire network of people/friends with even more talent so let's share what we know and so on. If you trust your friend completely wouldn't you want them to excel in the hands of another one of your friends who needs something. Let's help each other out. One example for me: What were the chances of my friend Kim and Brenda ever meeting? NEVER!!! Kim has never stepped foot in a scrapbook store and Brenda in the like probably is not going to Little League Baseball games or Ballet classes for 8 year olds. So when I knew Kim was selling her house...I immediately thought of Brenda. Yea, I have other people I know in real estate but just never thought of them as good enough to sell a house for a close friend of mine. It all turned out and Brenda listed her house and all I did was pass on a phone number. Let's NETWORK together we can help each other out. I have seen time and time again friends from Scrapbook 911 come through for each other and I think it is so sweet! MISS YOU GIRLS!!!(& Mike)

MasterChef Peter

May 16, 2009 (just uploading now)

Peter has been an awesome cook this week...It was our 5 month anniversary on May 16th and on Friday he cooked Steak w/Garlic Butter & Scalloped Potatoes and the next day we went for a 2 hour walk along the beaches and then cooked out at Happy Valley...Organic Chicken Burgers....YUM



..then later that night he made the famous Baked Chocolate Pudding that he and his cousin Morrison used to make as kids during the school holidays.

Find Me & Photos on Facebook!

Almost 2 weeks since my last post!! I guess I just finally figured out how to upload albums on Facebook and it takes only 20 minutes to upload around 50 pictures compared to about that for a few pictures here on my blog...Plus all of Peters family uses Facebook. I still like blogging for telling a story and being a bit more creative. It has finally stopped raining here. It rained as much in 3 days than it did for an entire year. Peter and I are going away to Brisbane for his Birthday and gonna do the city thing and stay overnight. Real excited as my clothes and jeans fit me now. We never really dress up on the coast as we are in flippies most of the time. I am excited to wear high heels for the 1st time since my wedding. As we are going into OUR winter, I will get more use out of my clothes for sure. Take care for now. Gotta work on his Bday present!!!

Surfing to BodyBoarding

Over a year ago I learned how to surf with a private instructor then moved onto group lessons with a different instructor. This is the board I used 9'6"(other wise known as a Longboard or Mal) so quite a bit bigger than me. Usually these longboards are for beginners, older peole or just regular people who like to ride longboards when there is no swell.

Wish I could surf on this board that I am standing next to...


So back in August, I wanted to impress Peter so we went out in Bryon Bay, NSW and I caught a wave. No problem when Peter gets the board through the waves breaking and I just have to swim 250 meters until we get far enough in the ocean. Then I position myself on the board...wait for the wave and up I go...I have strong legs from cheerleading/track so stabilizing on the board is no problem. The problem is if I have that famous 9'6" board by myself trying to get through the waves... I am either gonna kill myself or another surfer.
SO for the next 6 MONTHS, I become the professional photographer of Peter and I sit and enjoy the waves from the beach, rocks, or cliffs.

Well, Peter says until I can get comfortable pushing through the waves to get out far enough in the ocean...the safest thing for me would be bodyboarding (cause the bodyboard is not solid hard). So we go and buy the bodyboard, fins, socks, arm rope, and fin savers 2 days ago. He says...Just trust me and listen to me once we get into the ocean and I am like no problem...we are not but 50 meters in the water and I am on the board kicking and Peter says we are going over there (like 400 meters from the beach) where the other surfers are. I am like I will play here until I am more comfortable with the whitewash...Well...NO, he continues on and I am getting beat to heck by the waves and think I can't do it and it's the end of the world...But then 13times being pushed under the water and back again...I finally make it to where he is. Then you hang out in the back and wait for the waves to come. I caught 3 waves my first day. IT WAS AWESOME!!! The problem is that after you ride a wave to the beach...you get to go back through the whitewash to get back out there. Exhausting!!! You catch your breathe and chill and wait for the perfect wave...My entire upper body was sore as well as my legs the next day. The fins hurt my feet and Peter was ready to go a different beach the next day. It's like wearing a new pair of heels for the 1st time and you don't want to wear them the following day. So I was spectator again. Maybe I will have someone photograph me bodyboarding as I am always the one behind the camera.