Celebrating a 30th the '80s way!

We got all decked out in '80s to celebrate a friend's 30th birthday in the beginning of December. Dress up parties are so fun!

Christmas 2009 Down Under

Joel and I celebrated Christmas with a few familiar traditions interwoven with new ones. We celebrated with other 'orphans' - those who don't have family in Melbourne.

Christmas Eve: Polish Meal

Christmas Day: Potluck - I brought Turkey, gravy & stuffing

Santa left his sleigh and Reindeer in Ballarat

Canadian Thanksgiving 2009

On Sunday, 11th of October, Joel and I hosted friends for our first Canadian Thanksgiving meal. It was my first time ever making turkey by myself, and if I do say so myself, it turned out really well!! Happy belated Thanksgiving, everyone!

A "Wicked" 25th Birthday!

My first Australian birthday on July 14th is one that I will always remember with fondness. It began with a formal lunch on Southbank after church with Joel on the 12th of July. He lead me to believe that we were going to see a movie that afternoon, even buying candy like we usually do beforehand. To my surprise we went the opposite way to the movie theatre after lunch, ending up at the Regent Theatre to see the musical "Wicked"! I was thrilled! I had told Joel months before that I would like to see it and he remembered ... how lovely! It was a fantastic musical as I had heard from some good friends back home.

My surprise ticket

Joel usually plays soccer on Tuesday evenings (which happened to be my actual birthday night) so I decided to invite all of my favourite girlfriends out to my favourite Italian restaurant and then to my favourite chocolate shop. I invited 12 girls, thinking that only a few would be able to make it, and to my surprise and honour, everyone came! I really appreciate all of the relationships that God has blessed me with so far and I look forward to forging new ones in the future.

At Doninni's with (left - right around the table) Katie, Casey, Charlotte, Shaz, Caz, Hannah, Becca, Emma, Bec, Caza, Erena & Jax!

Excursions with Emily : Part 2

2. Oreo Taste Test



Being the Oreo connoisseur that I am, I'm convinced that Oreos taste different from country to country. I wanted to test my theory, so I asked my parents to send me some Oreos from Canada and an Aussie friend brought some American Oreos back with her from the States. Upon purchasing some Aussie Oreos and having Emily stay for the weekend, I thought it the perfect opportunity. We had a blind taste test with Joel, Em and I as the subjects stating our preferences. Then we discussed the reasons for our preferences such as "this cream is most creamy," or, "this biscuit tastes most chocolatey," or, "this Oreo has the most cream." If I remember correctly, Emily chose the Australian Oreo, Joel chose the Canadian Oreo and I chose the American one. Some of the things we observed is that the American Oreo has the most bitter chocolate biscuit and not as much cream as the Canadian Oreo. The Australian Oreo had the least amount of cream and a biscuit that was between the Canadian and American in sweetness. The Canadian chocolate biscuit was the sweetest and the Australian cream was the best tasting.

Me & Em with 2 Oreos from each country

A close-up of the different Oreos

3. Little Cupcakes

Emily and I explored a laneway in the CBD and the cutest Little Cupcakes shop. They are delicious little morsels bursting with yummy cakey flavour.

4. Melbourne Beach

Yes, Melbourne does have a beach! Port Melbourne, that is. It's nothing flash like Queensland beaches but it was still relaxing to watch the board surfers!

5. Moonlight Cinema

We took in the movie "Twilight" on the green grass of the beautiful Botanical Gardens in Melbourne. It's an outdoor cinema that runs throughout the summer.

Me, Emily and Bianca

Excursions with Emily : Part 1

In January I met a Canadian, an Edmontonian in fact, who was coming to Australia for a work term as a co-op Civil Engineer. We share a mutual friend back home who connected us named Jeanie. Her name is Emily and I was delighted to meet a fellow Canadian who I could talk freely with about Australian culture - all the different, weird, fun and interesting things - from a Canadian perspective. Since January, I've had the opportunity to do many things with my lovely new friend. We've explored the City together, created our own chocolate tour, discovered cafes and restaurants, travelled to Apollo Bay, eaten out in Lilydale, participated in an Oreo comparison from different countries and eaten the cutest, yummiest cupcakes ever, to name a few. So in the next few blogs I'd like to take the opportunity to highlight some of my "Excursions with Emily" (excursion is the word used in Australia for event outside of school, which can also mean any event out and about) in the next few blogs.

1. Greenhouse Cafe

First, here is our experience at one of the coolest travelling cafes I've ever been to. It's called the "Greenhouse Cafe" and it was situated on the edge of Federation Square just for the summer months (Dec & Jan). It's constructed entirely out of recycled materials and even the dishes were recycled. It travels all over the world; it's next destination was somewhere in Europe. As a side note, one of the chefs we met was from Saskatchewan - ! He was on a working holiday visa living and working all over Australia.

Let's Do a Time Warp Again ...

Well I must apologise for being SUPER SLACK on blogging lately! Teachers warned me that Term 2 would be brutally busy and guess what, they were right! I've done heaps of cool stuff all the way back to this summer which I haven't gotten around to blogging yet. As a result, I've decided to go back and blog about past events that I believe are blog-worthy. So please bear with me as I do a time warp ...

Pay It Forward

My sister Allison had this on her blog and I had to sign right up! And now I'd like to extend this fun offer to my friends and family as well. The idea is that the first five people to post a comment on this blog entry will receive something special from me sometime in the next year! Then you look for people to pay it forward to yourself.

Here's how it works:

1. Leave a comment letting me know you'd like to participate. You must be willing to provide me with a mailing address, obviously.

2. Post a "Pay it Forward" on your blog where you link back to me and extend the same offer to five of your readers. (again, if you don' have a blog, you can still participate maybe over FB, Twitter or just in 'real life' situations!).

Promise that you will follow through and send something special to those five who comment on your blog (or however you choose to do it!) The little something's don't have to be extravagant, just something that you select with that specific person in mind. You know you want to comment!

Now We're a TRUE Aussie Couple!

Here is our brand new four burner Jumbuck BBQ complete with Aussie BBQ - steak, sausage, corn, potatoes and garlic bread (the veggies skewers went on first before the meat)

On Valentine's Day I got a call that I won a BBQ! I don't usually win draws so I was ecstatic! Here's the scoop ...

I went shopping to a Pharmacy (they call them "Chemists" in Australia) to pick up some prescriptions and other personal and household necessities like I normally would on a Friday (my day off). Lo and behold when I went to check out and my bill was determined, I got asked if I wanted to enter a draw since my bill exceeded the amount required to enter. I was told it was for a BBQ but the amount was only $40 so I thought it was going to be a Coleman camping stove or something small like that. Anyway, of course I'll take the chance so I entered, not expecting to have anything come from it. Well, at around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday (the following day) I received a call on my mobile phone that I had won the BBQ!! Joel and I decided to go and pick it up immediately since the Chemist wasn't too far away. When we got to the store it was waiting near the front for us and to our amazement it was a full, middle-range, four-burner gas BBQ with a gas bottle included!! And it looks pretty flash too (if I don't say so myself). Aussie's love their BBQs and Aussie men love to show off their skills by having people over which is what Joel and I then proceeded to do. We've had 2 large BBQ parties so far and we've been inviting families over on an almost weekly basis to share our BBQ with them!

Thanks God for this unexpected gift and the opportunity to host people as we become a more Aussie couple!!

Overs, Bowls, Bats, Runs ... Cricket Anyone?

I took in my first live Cricket game in January with friends. It was one of the most laid-back sports experiences I've EVER had! Play had large breaks in it and when there was action it would feel like you almost missed it (since often you would turn to the side or behind you to visit with friends inbetween plays). It has a relaxing element to it since the one-day game can last up to 8 hours. That's a long day! But generally you go to watch, socialise and kick back. There are also games that last up to 5 days (the 5-day test), one day, and 20/20 which usually last a few hours.
If you want to know the rules of Cricket google them. They're a bit perplexing at first but after a while one begins to appreciate the art and skill of it - the beauty and strength that's required to make the bats that they do (as well as the bowls - another word for pitch).

Here is the stadium and field in it's entirety.

A little bit closer ... the bowlers bowl overhanded ... it's pretty cool to watch!

This was taken through binoculars! Ha! Can't believe it worked. Closer view of the batter and bowler.

Here is the big screen where we could watch replays and get a closer look of play.

Here's the group! Shaz (Sharon) was taking the photo so she didn't get in. The rest are (from L-R): Joel, me, Pete, Emma, Boof, James, Anthony, Naomi & Caz (Caroline).

Pancake Parlour

In the second week I was in Melbourne a friend who used to live in Melbourne (and now lives up north in Queensland), who I met last year, came for a visit. One of the girls in the church I'm attending organised a "Pancake Parlour" outing - something that is done on random Mondays to get the girls together. Well this was an occasion to get the girls together - to visit with Ebony - so I was invited as well! It was a lovely evening with yummy pancakes (I had buckwheat) and some good girl talk and girl time. It was my first "outing" without Joel and I ended up getting home at 1 am (on a Wednesday night to boot!)! We were engaged in a really important discussion. I think Joel was happy for an evening to do with what he wanted.

Thanks, ladies, for a lovely first "Pancake Parlour" experience!

God-Send Friend

On my first venture into the Central Business District (the "City" - Downtown for North Americans) I met a lovely woman at the train station. She, too, was on her way to venture through the City to spontaneously see and do various things. I think the way she put it was "have a wander," so I asked if I could wander with her. Erin and I couldn't of been a better match for each other! She's a few years older than me but we got on super well. We even got asked by the lady who offered to take the photo of us above if we were twins!! We both appreciated the company and the conversation and we both agreed that God had a hand in bringing us together! We enjoyed time together on Thursday and then decided to meet up for lunch on Friday in the City again. Erin was only on her way through Melbourne as she was going back home to New Zealand to visit her family. We hope to hook up again sometime in Melbourne because I think I can say that we are definitely kindred spirits!

God bless you, Erin, I look forward to the next time I can be in your fine company!!

Erin and I had coffees and shared chips - we were both on the same page so as soon as we saw the french fries on the menu we both knew that was perfect for a shared snack.

'Beach' Volleyball (in Edmonton - !)

Every Friday this summer a few college students from church have organised drop-in volleyball at the sand volleyball courts near the Uni campus. It's the closest thing to a beach anywhere in Edmonton, I do presume!The sand is a nicer cushion to dive on than a gym floor, that's for sure! I really enjoy going when I can - I've been on holidays the past few weeks so I've missed out.

I really appreciate Neil and Charlotte for organising this opportunity for us to get together and have summer fun (especially since I'm preparing to move to a country with real beaches in a short 2 months!)

I plan on it this Friday!!

Here's me and some of the gals washing our feet off after the sandy experience.

We had a few really good rallies - boy can the ball fly sometimes!

Mowing Rows with a best friend in Tow

Snezana, a dear sister in Christ and one of my best friends, came to visit Edmonton for two weeks in June. I was especially delighted to spend time with her as one of the reasons she came when she did was to spend time with me before I move to Australia. She currently studies Bible at Harding University in Arkansas.

Anyway, while she was here she served my family by helping us with our new deck for two weekends (see picture to the left). Another servant was Simon, a dear brother in Christ. While he was helping us over those two weekends he didn't have any time to mow his lawn. So he made a proposition to us: Snezana and I help him mow his lawn for a delicious Chinese food supper cooked by Simon. Simon says, "Will do civil engineering for food" (he's a civil engineer by profession) and Snezana and I say, "Will do hard labour for Simon's home-cooked Chinese food." So we agreed! Have a look at our new found 'green thumb' or should I say 'green hands'!




Simon doesn't want me to move because he's found a new lawn-mowing assistant! (Oh - and I should mention that his backyard is a small park being a corner lot and with grass 15 cm long it was no small task). Anyways, always lovely to serve brothers and sisters especially with the fellowship of other brothers and sisters (and with Simon's tasty chinese food to look forward to)!

Fresh out of the box

Well this is my official first blog of the site in which I hope to keep my family and friends informed of my happenings especially as they pertain to my life in the next year with all the exciting new things that are to come in my life and the life of my fiance, Joel.

Stay posted for as I have the time I will personalize it more and more.