Introducing Calla

My baby is a baby, but I know it won't last. I take the time to appreciate her in my arms, her little mouth on my breast, her smallness. And then her gigantic smiles too. At night when I hold her she cries on my shoulder and falls asleep and there is no place I rather be. She will be in my arms and I cannot get enough of her and I think that she is growing too fast. But I remember to appreciate exactly where she is now and know that I have had the best time with her in all the stages she has been in so far.

I went back to work and that is OK. I feel her with me when I am not near her and I imagine she knows that I am just around the corner. When she sees me again and her whole face lights up I feel in that moment like nothing else exists in the world, but her and I and the love that spills from my heart it is so full. 

I think that she may be the best thing that ever happened to me, in fact I know it. I keep saying how cute she is, when really I want to scream ...She is mine! She is mine! I got her! She is mine! And isn't she amazing?! 

All the losses before her; after I decided I needed her, have become a distant memory. All the times of disappointment and anguish seem to have faded away. I know that they happened and even though I know they hurt and times were difficult during the process, it also doesn't matter any more.

She has erased it from my memory and replaced it with joy and learning and love and everything I imagined and more.

When she is in my arms and quiet and staring up smiling at me, I feel our smile is one and we both cannot believe our luck. The little life I made; I wonder if that smile is saying thank you before she can even speak the words that no doubt one day she will try and articulate in some way.

In her little sigh, cry, tilt back of the head I think that there must be some part of her that knows she is priceless to me; that she is my breathe extension and my new purpose in life.

All the things I will teach her and she will teach me I love to guess about. I have ideas, but I have no idea what they will really be. I am so excited to share my thoughts and dreams and joy of life with her that I smile more than I ever have in my life these days.

My baby is Calla, and like the lily she is graceful and strong and tall and beautiful.

Oh Pip - I knew you wouldnt disappoint!

Oh Pip - I knew you wouldn't disappoint! 24 years later and I did have great expectations (sorry I had to). But I felt confident that I could trust the 13 year old me. I have said many times in my life that this book affected me in a profound way, however remembering what that "way" was after 20 + years...well...

Let's just say that it is surreal from just reading a book I can find comfort in the fact that I feel like I always have known who I am. That I really haven't changed. My experiences have grown (in many ways), my life is being lived everyday for sure, but the core of who I am is pretty consistent. This humbly reminds me how important it is to know, honour and trust your own truth. Namaste <3 

Take it away Pip --> "That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of this first link on one memorable day". Charles Dickens

Working from home...and Bikram Yoga

It rocks! I am just in heaven working from home. I want to continue this trend even back in Victoria ;)

I work 3 days a week in Brisbane - Tuesday to Thursday, and that is all OK. But where I am the most productive is here...

Plus - my week's fly! Here it is - a Friday and who knew!?

Then I have my 4 day straight of Bikram yoga and that is just so very awesome. Sometimes 3, but surfing takes up the morning on the weekend and if we are lucky enough that the wind is not up so we can go for a sunset surf session - then lucky us.

We had that luck last weekend and I swear, taking off on the wave and staring straight at the most beautiful pink and sunset colours in the world is like you died and went to heaven. It is really wild. I love being in the water as the sun fades and the night sky beings to show signs of itself. Maybe an outline of the moon. But we all know that time in the evening, at dusk where the light can transcend you to a magical place. I love that.

My favorite Bikram yoga teacher said to the class the other day that "The universe must have thought YOU were a pretty good idea", I am aglow with that sentiment these days. It was in the speech of how change is necessary and constant and that it is the only thing in our life that we can be sure of. I liked that too.

Anyways - I am busy, but I just wanted to post something to post something.

It is Friday ------------- TGIF!

Aussie Weekend's

G'day Mates!

To be honest, this weekend I am working and that is just that. It is OK. We have an Australian new customer that just went live with Procura and there is all this work today that I have to scope out before other people can do their jobs, so I really feel it is for the greater good. Plus I will just bank the OT time and use it sometime before Jon leaves.

Jon and I had a real nice morning yesterday - we got up at the usual time between 5:45 and 6am - had some coffee and watched the windless morning from our front deck. No wind means clean waves, so we got our stuff together and were out of the house by 6:30 or so. And we went wave hunting. The common surfer activity. It really is part of the game, check out as many surf spots as you can on your way and stop at the first one that is "surfable". The thing about this game, is that is really what it is because "surfable" to one person is not necessarily surfable to the next.

For example yesterday D'bah was pretty much "going off" (images below). It was over head and pumping. Which in some cases I can do, but I didn't have it in me yesterday to commit. The frustrating thing was is that the beaches around it were SMALL, unsurfable really. So it was like that or drive further. We drove further (another 20 mins) down the road and stopped at a spot where we have had some luck before. It was just a heavy beachbreak (fast waves and closeouts) - not my favourite. But I went in, surfed around for like 30 minutes and then decided - why don't i just walk down this beautiful everlasting stretch of a beach for a while. So that is what I did and it felt great.

Then Jonny and I went for a nice breakfast and this little cafe we went to on our first day in Australia - kinda cool! and yeah, came home and it was only noon! HA! Lots of day time here when the sun and surf is up at 5am :)

During breakfast we chatted a little about what is going to happen when Jon leaves - he is booking his flight soon - his plan for working and how long he will be gone. A bit of a sobering conversation  but we are so happy that we picked this move and whatever we deal with in order to accommodate our life here, and our plan for the future is the way it has got to be.

Time to work. I know I said something about a post about our camping trip, but there is one slated for next weekend - so after that I will post an Aussie Camping trip blog.

Big surf at Duranbah (D'bah)!

 Destination of walk...

PS - we saw Kangaroo's - LOTS OF THEM camping a few weekends ago. It was AMAZING - here are some pictures:
                                                              KANGAROO's!!!!!!

SACHA!

JON!

Surf and Massage Weekend

This is just a quick note and a few new pictures I thought I would put up from the weekend. Boy it was great! I surfed 3 days in a row and caught some awesome waves! Really good times. I swear sometimes Jon and I feel like pinching ourselves. What luck to be here, live here and surf so much. It is like a freaking surfers paradise here, totally.

Oh something funny - I went to a massage parlor just up the road from our house yesterday because I was joncing for a massage and it was open and walk-able. The sign said Chinese Orinetal Massage Spa and Sauna and there was a special advertised $35 dollars for 30 minutes I thought - perfect!

But I gotta be honest, I am not sure if it was only a "massage" parlor - if you get my drift. Now usually I go to Registered Massage Therapists for massage, even now if I do I would get like 60-70% back. In Canada it was like 100%, so I took advantage for sure. I do not know why I feel I have to justify for the indulgence, but I do.

My body is big, I have big muscles and tendons and ligaments and I planted trees for like 8 years. I surf, I run and in my running career have trained for marathons and half marathons. I have been working out in gyms since I was 19 and have had personal trainers. I am or have been into yoga, spinning, weights for long periods of time in my life. And then there is the factor that I broke about 10 bones in my body and injured myself countless other times doing all that. What I am getting at is that I am active and I would say good to my body - but that could also mean hard on my body too. I think so anyways. So often I am stiff, sore and well, generally my body is pretty tired. I mean, I am strong and feel great lots and most times too, but...sometimes (OK more often than most) I need a massage and I go get one...

So, back to my Sunday massage. Well, around these parts its a bit like touristy and vacation sort of style shops - or like what I envision Miami Beach to be like, where there are some parts that are not the most high end. And I mean, we live in a good enough area, but the Gold Coast highway is just up the street and we are 10k from Surfers Paradise and that does look an awful lot like a mini Vegas and is known for its young party atmosphere and a bit of a crazy life style.

Ya, so back to the point,  I am not sure it was strictly a Massage Parlour, if you get my drift. Yup, not sure. Only men came in during my massage. It was run by a Chinese woman - really nice, but anyways - that is all I will say about that. Don't get me wrong, they were nice and it was a good massage (and it was obviously just a massage for me!), but there is a Physio Sports Medicine Clinic where I am pretty sure I will get myself in next time.

Ok that is enough about that  - here are some pics of our weekend.

What else… a vacation!

I am right now on my train ride home from work and what am I thinking about? What else… a vacation!

I know, I know, I just had a 3 week vacation some of you may be thinking. But when you consider it that the last week of my “vacation” was sorting out our life here in Australia and that really isn't a vacation from everything is it?  

I want to go camping and I think that is exactly what the plan is.

I have actually been working some overtime on the weekends and late nights (like tonight actually). I have pulled some 9 hour days, trying to get a handle on a project that is being “transitioned” to me at the moment. But here is the scoop – the guy got fired. How does a transition really take place when no one is around to transition it? Yes, that is right, the transition is me banging my head against things I didn't write/design/solve, hence the overtime.

Anyways – back to vacation dreaming! So there is a long weekend coming up here in Aus October 1st, don't ask me what it is, but I know we do not have Thanksgiving weekend here, so maybe it is the substitute for that...(?). Anyway, I plan to take an extra day off. SO that means we can leave on Friday early afternoon and cruise down to our first destination and hangout/campout/ hopefully get a surf in. Then we have Saturday, Sunday and Monday to cruise around, camp, eat, surf and then head her home on Tuesday to be back to work on Wednesday. 

That is the plan anyway. To be honest, I think by 3 nights of camping Jon and I both will be ready to pull the plug. It is not like we have anywhere even in mind at this point. South is all we know, likely not much more than 3 or 4 hours South. Because we love exploring where we are right now, it is hard to want go too far away from comfort and familiarity when everything  is all so new and different. 

We are really just kind of going with the flow of it here. We are venturing out a little farther every weekend. We went out to this place called Caribarita beach last weekend and it was only like 40 minutes away, but it felt like a real adventure.We found some new surf spots and really had a nice time surfing and driving around.

On another note, I saw a dead possum on the side of the street yesterday walking to my work building. Not that exciting, but it was pretty cool looking. I also saw some new birds and made a plan to get a bird book of the east cost of Australia so I can figure out what they all are. By the way, if you didn't know, I am a secret-undercover, amateur birder (aka bird watcher). I have a bird book at home for our island and I just love going through it randomly. I like the pretty pictures and the little blurbs about the birds, what they eat, how the live, if they mate for ever, that kind of stuff. Then when I am out and see one that I recognize I say - there is a such and such, and it is never the right name. Usually I just repeat the same name of a bird that I do remember - it is actually quite embarrassing, but its just Jon, so he just smiles and doesn't say anything. I like to say "water fowl" instead of ducks. It makes me feel like I am getting somewhere with my hobby. 

So my plans with my Aunt Margaret and family (who are heading here in December) are coming along nicely. I am joining them and my cousin to trip around this town (north of Brisbane) called 1770. We are going to rent a 4X4 and cruise to these places. This town is close enough to the Great Barrier Reef to get a good look at the reef out on a boat trip. I am really excited about snorkelling there. They are here in mid-December and we are going to check out Fraser Island too.  It is the largest island of sand in the world. That is going to be totally neat, super fun!

And my friend from high school, Hil (Hilary Leftick) is coming here at the end of November too! So I will have a friend visit me and that I am so stoked for. I don’t know how long she and her hubby are going to stay, but Jon will be gone by then, so I say "not long enough"!! 

When will I see a Kangaroo – that is what I want to know...

Kangaroo – for dinner, surf tips and a little lamb story.

In Australia (so far) Kangaroo for dinner, has been the extent to our sightings. We had marinated Kangaroo steaks for dinner that Jon bought from our local grocery store last night. I got to be honest with you, I was a little hesitant when Jon first mentioned it a few weeks back (actually on the airplane over that he wanted to try it. And if it wasn’t for the fact that one of my Aussie colleagues going off on home amazing the meat is, I don’t know how much I would have been into it. 

But drum roll.............It is fantastic! REALLY GOOD. Jon describes it as like "roast pork in texture". I think its kinda like roast beef. It is a red meat and very tender.

We do not have a BBQ yet, but it is certainly on the list of things to buy, that and a blender. Unfortunately any of the small appliances that I brought over here including a blow dryer, iron and coffee grinder do not work here, therefore I had to purchase new. Not only are the plug outlets different, but also the voltage measurements. Anyways, lesson learned I suppose.

Today is the start of my 3 day work week in the office. I have got this schedule now where I work in the office Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and work from my home office Monday and Fridays. This is a great method to get lots of work done more efficiently and to have a good break from 3 days of 4 hours of travel each day. The reality is that some days (like today) I do not get on a train with WIFI, therefore cannot really work on the train, which means to make up for it I have to either work threw lunch or work an extra hour from home in the evenings – and who wants to do that!?!?!?

Anyways – on to fun stuff.

This weekend was great. We went south (again) to Bryron Bay and surfed this spot called Broken Heads in like 3 foot swell – which means TINY TINY waves. But we were there at 8:30am, the sun was up and bright and warm and it was nothing to put on our thin wetsuits and go out for some exercise and practice. The setting is stunning for all of the beaches on the coast, like just totally tropical paradise looking. I have pictures that I will put up later.

So yesterday (Monday) I was able to get in a surf before work – again not the greatest waves, but a bit bigger at least. I am really focusing on my popup right now. It is a very challenging whole piece of the surfing puzzle and one that I have never excelled at. So I am trying to un-teach myself the bad habits that I have and it is one of the hardest things. It also requires a lot of stretch and determination. You really have to bend your back in a backwards fold and from your hands bring your feet directly on the board underneath your body and for your front foot to also be far enough forward on the board to get the right balance and positioning to start moving your board up and down the wave (on your feet obviously!). 

Not easy! 

But Jon has helped me with some good tips and I just need to loosen up a little in my hips to let that front foot move forward as much as it needs to. Now don’t get me wrong, I have been surfing on my feet for years J, but see what I have been doing is assisting my popup with my knee (which is the bad habit).

This brings me to Bikram Yoga. Yes – there is a studio just down the street – literally a 5 minute walk from our place. I plan on going at least 3 times a week. I had my first class this weekend and walked out all pumped and stoked on it. And then had my second class last night and felt horrible afterwards!!! Ha ha ha. O well. Horrible only because I likely was working harder than my first class – AND I was not early to secure a spot in the back where you get some air breaks – but instead was up in the front, dead centre, no air and in the middle of everyone so probably because I was in the lime light I was pushing it a bit tooJ.

I am reading the new Harkai Murakami book right now “1Q84” and just loving it. I told Jon I wanted to read 1984 and he brought it home for me after a night we squabbled a little bit ...good gesture and bonus points where allocated accordingly. Jon likes to be up in that department and it works for me. He has some funny expressions about them, but they are slipping me right now. He keeps cracking me up this day – which is pretty awesome. I have to include a picture of him and Lamby hanging out talking about Diablo – his new computer game. Specifically they were discussing the differences between the new game and the older game. Yes, my husband was having a full blown conversation with my stuffed lamb.

(Those of you who are judging right now, I would just like to point out that you probably have a kid, or a cat/dog that you get to make fun of and cuddle with – so back off J.)

Next time I will try to get a recording of Lamby and Jon, the theme that they are into right now is “how Sacha is mean”. Oh god, it will crack you right up. Example:  I took Lamby to the beach the other night to watch Jon jump in the water on his new long board. (keep in mind that Lamby came out of the bedroom (via Jon) and asked if he could come to the beach with us – as we are always talking about it, and always going there...etc, etc,). 

Anyway... there were people around at the beach so I didn’t want to take him out of the back pack – so you can imagine what a monster I looked like (to the both of them) when we got home and I told the truth to Jon.

Oh man that’s right kids, that’s how we entertain each other at our house.