Brent and Laura do the World!

Hiking About

2011-10-16T03:32:00.001-07:00

Even though I have been in Canberra coming up three years, I only just discovered a fantastic hiking area - Googong Lake. It is only a 30-ish minute drive from my house so you'd think I would have been there before but no! Anyway, just a few pics from our afternoon out there on a perfect Spring day.

Brent in front of one of the caves

Me overlooking some of the nice landscape

London Arch Bridge

London Arch Bridge

Gardening and Cooking

2011-10-10T03:43:00.000-07:00

It has been a long, cold winter here in Canberra and Spring is finally starting to settle in. The rain has returned and everything is turning green and growing like crazy. Flowers are blooming and the temperature is perfect for sitting on the deck and enjoying lunch in the slightly crisp weather. The only bad thing is that my sneezing has definitely increased - the price you pay for Spring I guess!

We started a veggie and herb garden in the back yard - something we have been planning to do since moving in almost two years ago so I am glad we finally got to it! When I say "we" I really mean Brent - I took pictures and fetched gardening tools and he did the back-breaking work - can't complain about that deal!

I like to cook most of the time, but Spring puts me in the mood to really cook! It is also good weather to start up the bbq again which is a good thing because Costco here sells Tri-Tip! Non-Californians probably don't know what this is - it is an amazing cut of beef that is so tasty and for some reason isn't really eaten outside of California. Even my siblings in Utah and Texas can't get it! I am not really sure why they sell it here, I have never seen it in Australia before, maybe it is because the US Ambassador is from California. For what ever reason, I am very happy!

So just going to post a few pictures of things around the garden and a couple of the things I have been cooking up. Hurray for Spring!

Tri-Tip and Brownie Cookies with Peanut Butter Mousse Filling (recipe here)

Brent planting the veggie garden and some nice flowers with a pretty bird in our backyard

New Job!

2011-09-28T02:33:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated my blog in a while but this time something really exciting has happened in the meantime - I got a new job!!

I applied back in March and started a month ago - government takes forever, haha.
So the job is as a Risk Adviser for AusAID - Australian Agency for International Development. At this stage in my career, this is my total dream job! This is a massive step in the right direction for my ultimate career goal (working for the UN) so getting this job was amazingly awesome.
I am so excited to be back in the international arena because I have missed it so!

And it gets better - there will be lots of travel! Part of my job will be to go out to our overseas posts to train them in how to manage risk. The majority of travel will be to Pacific Islands and South Asia, but hopefully a few glamorous locations like Paris and Geneva too!

So, in case you can't tell, I loooove my job! I can't get over how awesome it is!

If you get a chance, check it out: www.ausaid.gov.au

This is my office with the Millennium Development Goals on the windows:

Around Canberra

2011-05-29T04:33:00.001-07:00

A walk around the lake on a gorgeous autumn day

Battle of Coral Sea Commemoration

2011-05-29T04:22:00.001-07:00

On May 5, the Australian-American Association hosted the commemoration of the battle of the coral sea here in canberra. It was pretty cool and it was nice (and rare) to celebrate both sides of my family military history at the same time. Great day!

The "Catafalque Party" made up of Australian Navy and US Marines

The Governor-General taking a wreath to lay at the American Memorial

All the wreathes from various groups

The US Ambassador to Australia giving a speech

Me with the last two surviving Australian veterans of the Coral Sea Battle - they were hilarious!

Lame update...

2011-05-29T04:10:00.001-07:00

So I haven't been on here in ages, I will try to do better! I have been working on my office the past couple weeks. I got a sweet desk, some wall stuff that I still need to put up (will take more photos then) and made an accent wall. Since I rent I can't paint or do wallpaper so I improvised with wrapping paper and sticky-tac! I am happy with it!

PS - couldn't get the first picture to rotate (it is from my phone) so tilt your head to the right to see it!

Some pics

2010-11-16T00:04:00.000-08:00

Just a few pictures of random stuff. I went up to Sydney a few weeks ago to see my Mum when she was over here (she came unexpectedly to visit her brother - my uncle - who has extremely advanced cancer). We stopped in an international candy store and I couldn't resist a bag of my all-time favorite jelly bellys - juicy pear! I was so excited and they were oh so good.

Brent and I went to the annual Australian American Association black tie dinner and this was my attempt at a girly up-do. It wasn't perfect (didn't look as good as I wanted from the back), but I am still happy with my attempt and I don't think I looked half bad! The evening was a lot of fun and we met some interesting people as well.

One of the biggest sporting events in Australia is "Melbourne Cup Day" - a horse race. Though the race itself only lasts about a minute, it is a day of celebration, even outside of Melbourne. We had a work party where we ate the traditional cold chicken lunch and most of the women wore big fancy hats (even me, though I didn't take a photo). My colleague in this picture won the best costume prize as he wore his jockey glasses and a fitting rain coat as it was pouring! It was a fun afternoon - even better knowing we were getting paid while partying! :)

On Veteran's Day we went to the US Embassy for a concert by the US Air Force Band that came from Hawaii just for this! It was a lot of fun and I even got to chat up the Ambassador for a while. He is from California so we had a nice chat about that. The Ambassador is singing with the band in this photo (wearing the light hawaiian shirt) as he loves Elvis and he joined in to sing it!

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-04T00:18:00.000-07:00

Puking Pumpkin! (guacamole)

I love Halloween, I always have. When I was little and we lived in Melbourne, my Dad would take us out and we would knock on doors and give them candy since Halloween was not celebrated at all here at that time. Over the years, it has gained in popularity a little bit, though most people 40+ scoff at it (they do about almost anything American). I didn't do anything last year and I was sad about that so this year I decided to have a party.
I started planning back in September and in early October a few things started to appear in a couple random stores here and there. I stocked up on what I could and my parents were so good to me and sent me a ton of stuff. I made up some cool e-vites and sent them out and got the house all decked out. I put spiderwebbing everywhere, had small lights and candles everywhere for cool lighting, had fog machines and even made a cemetery in the backyard with tiki torches. It looked awesome. I made a ton of food and even managed to find a cauldron to put the main drink in and had a cool little fogger in it. I was so excited for weeks, but when the night came, only 6 people showed up. I had a really good time with those that were there, but I was really disappointed that not many people came. It isn't about the money, but I spent I think at least $500 on everything. Most of the decorations I can use again in the future though.
But despite the bad turnout it was a lot of fun. I had scary music playing, we bobbed for apples and I even had a pinata. Here's hoping next year's numbers are better! :)

Living Room

Backyard foggy cemetery

Cauldron drink table (you can't see the fog)

The food table

Vacation!!

2010-08-10T21:30:00.000-07:00

Again, I procrastinate - been a couple months since updating yet again!
Biggest news was my visit back to the US for 3.5 weeks. It was glorious and it was so hard to leave. It was not a very relaxing vacation however with so much going on. We flew to New York and had one day to recover before the craziness began. We went to a wedding on Long Island on the Saturday morning and made it to the cocktail hour of the reception at which point we hit the road to drive to Maryland for a wedding that evening. We missed the ceremony (as was expected) but made it for the reception and the after party at the hotel that night. This wedding was for a girl from our Master's program so we also got to catch up with good friends. It was a great time and we all partied well into the night (including the bride!).
The next day we drove back to NY and hung out there for a few days with Brent's family. I also got to meet up and have dinner with a friend of mine that now lives in NY, Kate. Her family has a summer house just a couple down from our old beach house in Santa Barbara so we spent every summer together and have known eachother forever. It was so fun to catch up with her and in NY of all places!
After eating glorious NY pizza we headed down to Tampa, Florida for a week to spend time with Brent's family down there. Brent got pretty sick so we didn't get to go to Miami as we had wanted to, but it was still fun. Brent celebrated his birthday while we were there and he went fishing with his brother and cousin. They didn't catch anything and they all got very sunburnt, but they had a blast together. I knew I would just roast, even with sunscreen, so I opted to stay home. Good choice!
From Florida we flew to California and spent a couple days at my parents where I went to my 10-year high school reunion. It was really fun to catch up with everyone and we had a pretty good turnout with about 50% of the class being able to make it (my class was less than 40 people). We had it at a picnic ground on the lake and we had fun watching the kids in the water and all chatting away. Good times!
We then spent a day and a half in San Francisco where I tried to eat as much sourdough as possible (still wasn't enough) and then got back on yet another plane to head back east to Boston.
Boston was awesome and I think it may be my new favorite city. I loved all the history and the people were great and such good food. Expensive though, I spent more there than everywhere else combined! I was in Boston for yet another wedding, this one for a couple that got together in our Grad program. It was tons of fun and so hard to leave!
After 5 days in Boston it was back on the plane to head down under. There was lots of plane drama which resulted in us having to spend the night in Denver and got our luggage lost, but it all turned out ok because I got to visit my cousin that lives in Denver and we got upgraded to business class on the flight to Sydney. I don't think I can ever go back to economy on that flight now. I actually slept for half of the flight since your seat reclines to a full flat bed and they really take care of you! I loved it.
Once back in Australia (luggageless, but eventually got it back) we headed up to northern NSW for my family reunion. It was massive but fun to see everyone and have a couple days relaxing on the beach. I got really sick, but managed a visit to Sydney for a couple days to hang with my siblings which although went too quickly, was super fun. Made all the more interesting when I got kicked by a kangaroo resulting in a massive bruise on my leg. If it were the US, I would be sitting pretty with a nice settlement right now, but unfortunately this is Australia :(
My parents came down to Canberra for a visit and that was good fun. Then it was time to eventually get back to work after 5.5 weeks off. I love that I get so much vacation time here!
I will also eventually post pictures...one day!

Catching Up

2010-05-04T23:22:00.001-07:00

Alright, so much for keeping up to date. And yet again I will have no pictures because my computer broke and I can't access my flickr pictures from my work computer (yet I can access this site - strange!)
Since my last post, Brent and I have moved to a new place and it is heaven. We were living in a small, old, dirty, cockroach-infested, falling apart, noisy, too cold/too hot apartment. It was a place that I took in desperation as I had been looking for 6 weeks with no luck and run out of my free housing that work was paying for. But at least it is over and now we live in luxury! :) We now live in a 5-bedroom, 2-story, new kitchen, clean, heated/airconditioned house with a balcony and a view to the surrounding hills. We've been there over two months and still love it so much. Unfortunately we are still renting (such a waste of money!), but our quality of life has changed considerably since moving.
I have also finished up my time working in Parliament House and am now in my permanent position here in the Department. My title is "Intelligence Officer" so I like that I sound so undercover and covert. I mainly work on researching the overall drivers and trends in fraud by our clients and providers and also internally. We have our 3-year fraud control plan due at the end of June so I am busy getting together stats and doing risk assessments and all that fun stuff. It is pretty interesting and I am enjoying the work and the people I work with.
Brent is well in the groove of his job with The Smith Family, a non-profit that promotes and helps with education for disadvantaged families.
I am definitely missing the US though. I miss everyone and the cheap prices and the availability of everything and mainly good Mexican food :) We have a trip planned to the US for June and I am so so excited. We have a couple weddings to go to, my 10-yr high school reunion, Brent's family to visit (mine will all be out in Oz for a family reunion when we get back) and so much good food to catch up on!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-05T18:07:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it is 2010. For some reason I recalled a random conversation I had with a friend back when we were about to start 7th grade. We talked about how crazy it was going to be when we graduated high school in the year 2000. It has been 16 years since that conversation - how funny that it was randomly dredged up by my brain!
2009 was a year of immense change so I am looking forward to a more stable year. The year started out well with a nice raise and also the news that Brent got a great job at The Smith Family - the largest charity organisation in Australia. He will be starting on Monday and we are both very excited.
It was a very rough year for Brent having to move to a country that he had only visited once before for two weeks, leave all of his family and friends behind, get used to the crazy accent and all the even crazier words we use, the prejudice against Americans, the lack of recognition of his educational qualifications, a first job that turned out to be very bad, etc etc.
So this year already looks promising for us. We will be moving to a new place at the end of February and that is enough to keep us upbeat! Our current apartment has been trouble from the beginning - it was infested with cockroaches upon moving in, the kitchen benches began falling apart, the taps broke one after the other, the winter came and we froze then summer came and we roasted, the neighbour below smokes on his porch all the time and lucky us get all the smoke, the apartments across the parking lot are public housing - bringing with it so many fun things, the neighbour next door wakes up every morning at 8:30 with a disgusting hacking cough. Oh I can't wait to move, can you tell?! :)
I have two overarching goals this year: my physical health and my finances. I have allowed myself to get so overweight and out of shape, so I need to focus and get back on track. I want to get back to where I was just over 3 years ago - super hot!
With both of us working, I can now start to sort out all my finances and get my debts paid down. We also want to start saving for a house with a goal to be able to buy within 2 years.
We will also finally figure out when we are getting married - preferably after making considerable headway on the first two goals!
So I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years. I am looking forward to this year!

Thanksgiving Down Under

2009-12-02T20:03:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is my all-time favorite holiday so I am always a bit bummed when I am not in the US for it. It is also hard to get into the spirit of things when it is hot, but I managed!
My cousin Luke and his American wife Ali invited us over to have dinner with them. We had to do it on Friday though because Thursday was the last sitting day of the year for Parliament so I was at work until 7pm.
My cousin said they would do the Turkey and a few other things and I took up the rest. Now there are a couple of issues when trying to do it right here:
One, not only do they not do pumpkin pie here (so no canned pumpkin) but it is also an extremely rare site to even come accross a pumpkin. Apparently they had a few at a local market around Halloween time, but they were about $30 each. I assume only Americans really missing home fork out this kind of dough. So I made a pumpkin pie out of a butternut squash. With the right seasoning it actually tasted quite close to the real thing! I now also know how to make one from scratch.
Two, Turkey is also rarely eaten and a mid-sized frozen turkey costs about $60 to $70. My Dad enjoyed taunting me by calling me each time he saw a cheap turkey. The lowest was a 12-pounder for $3.85 (which he bought).
Third, the heat. With no A/C in my apartment and blazing hot outside, I was very tempted to skip the whole ordeal so as not to add to the heat with the oven. But I figured a few hours of extra hot would be ok for the bliss of a Thanksgiving dinner. So I cooked up a storm!
I made stuffing, which turned out to be really good even though we just made up a recipe for it, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and corn bread. It was all delish!
After cooking, we piled everything in the car and drove to my cousin's house about 20 minutes away. I was so excited for dinner only to find out that my cousin had succumbed and only bought a turkey leg to cook up. They also bought some chicken too, which is so wrong! I was really disappointed not to have the full shebang. They also hadn't made gravy! I whipped some up because Thanksgiving dinner just doesn't exist without gravy.
So depsite my disappointment over the turkey, it was a good dinner and of course lots of leftovers!
I hope everyone had a fabulous Turkey day and weekend!

November Update!

2009-11-22T17:02:00.000-08:00

Despite my efforts, I have yet again fallen behind in keeping up with my blog. Not that there is much to update on, but I really need to try harder!

I have had a couple visits since my last posting: my parents came for a few days and though it was a quick visit, it was fun. They were in Australia for quite a few weeks, but I was sick for the first few so didn’t make it up to Sydney to see them. Luckily we were able to match up some dates! My Dad brought me all sorts of goodies ranging from enchilada sauce mix to Rescee’s to pop tarts. Most of it has been used up by now, so another visit is in order!

My friend Liz also came to visit a few weeks later and it was so much fun to have her here. It was her first time to Australia and though she only came for a week, we tried to fit in as much as possible. We spent a couple days in Sydney where we took a ferry across the harbour to Manly Bay, walked around the opera house, dined at Darling Harbour and hugged koalas and kangaroos at the local sanctuary.

In Canberra, we hit up the fantastic War Memorial, the massive wildlife preserve where literally hundreds of kangaroos bound all around you, the NASA deep space station (where the first images of the moon landing were broadcast from) and hit up a few of the many great wineries in the area. It was a ton of fun and I can’t wait for her to visit again – eventually!

I am almost done with my first year here at Veterans Affairs and I have loved it. I have been able to work in some great areas and am currently working up at the Parliament House for the Minister of Veterans Affairs (a cabinet member). It is has been so interesting to be here and all the craziness that comes with working at the center of politics. It has been a great way for me to combine my interests in politics and the service delivery side of things from within the Department. I take all the phone calls that come in, mostly from angry veterans. It can be quite rough and emotionally draining at times, but I always get a big boost when I am able to really help someone.

As I joined the Department as part of a “grad program” that ends this week, I now have a lot of opportunities ahead of me. I have applied for a range of positions within the Department and am looking forward to wherever I will end up on a permanent basis. I will be sure to keep updated on here – hopefully in a timely manner!

Brent is currently working for a company that sells steel kit homes. It has given Brent a chance to look into a new industry and learn a lot, but as it is a commission only job, he is still on the look-out for a more stable income job. This job has at least kept him busy though so he isn’t sitting at home bored out of his mind and messing with the cat.

The weather has turned incredibly hot and there was no nice interim time from the cold winter days. The other day it was almost 100F, which for only Spring is incredibly hot and it is predicted to be a very bad summer. Unfortunately, we live in an old apartment that has no A/C as was not designed in any kind of way that promotes air flow. So pretty much it is a heat trap and we have not been able to get it any cooler than 86F even with two fans and an evaporative cooler and generally some cool wind at night. Our place just refuses to cool down! Our lease is until February, so looks like we will have to try and survive the summer in there.

So that is pretty much the update from this end of the world. Not too much exciting, but we are getting by. I miss everyone a lot and always welcome visitors – hint, hint.

PS – I will try to get some photos up soon.

Happy 4th!

2009-07-04T04:16:00.000-07:00

Aren't we a patriotic family - kitty and all!

I was very disappointed that the embassy had nothing planned here for the 4th - but then again I'm not surprised because Canberra isn't that of a happening place. Next year we will have to go to Sydney, that's where the celebrations happen!
Last year we spent the 4th on an army base in Germany and that was really fun. The year before there was a huge bash at the embassy in Bangkok and that was a blast. And in true Thai style it was a gorgeous day then rained buckets in the evening as we left and there was not a spot on us that wasn't soaked to the bone. Good times. So, as most other things, it was much quieter this year.
Last night I made a bbq sauce marinade that is oh so good and soaked the ribs in it overnight. I got a recipe for baked ribs because we don't have a bbq and though I was skeptical, they turned out really good! Finger lickin' good! We also had some baked beans and potato salad, mmm. The apple pie will be later tonight, yum!

Brent ready to dig into the spread (still no table) and patriotic ribs!

So a happy 4th to everyone, hope you have a much warmer one than me (it is 36F outside)! It is strange to be all rugged up, but you can still feel some patriotism on a cold night! I won't deny I love my socialized medicine and other benefits, but it doesn't diminish my love for the good ol' USA. I am grateful for those brave enough to start a revolution and to start rolling a country with all sorts of cheap stuff! :) I do miss the cheap stuff. But I love Australia too even with it's high taxes and deadly animals.
I hope you all have a great 4th - enjoy some fireworks and a hot day for me!

Picture Time

2009-06-30T02:32:00.000-07:00

Here are a bunch of pictures - all taken with my phone so they aren't that great quality.

Hanging out at the Ice Rink

Couldn't resist...

Auska jumped up and settled in on Brent

Auska the Angel - our sweater kitty!

Aww, she loves me

Auska found a comfy spot in Brent's jeans on the floor

Random llama in the city!

Its cold, so she needs a sweater!

Ice Skating! (blurry...)

Brent and I enjoying an evening of ice skating

Happy Birthday Brent!

2009-06-27T04:46:00.000-07:00

Cake & cat!

Brent's birthday was on the 22nd and unfortunately we weren't able to celebrate in style like we have in the past. Last year I took him Paris, the year before was in Bangkok. I wish I could have done more, but things are tight so we had to call it a quiet, lame birthday.
I bought Brent a brewing system and we are having fun with that! I also got him a martini set, which he is loving! I made him breakfast in bed before I went to work and then we enjoyed spending the evening together and watching over the new brew kit. I wanted to take the day off work, but it was an intensely busy week and I had to work overtime every day just to barely get everything done.

Brent with brew kit

I made some delicious NY cheesecake for dessert and that was definitely the highlight of the day, Brent loooves cheesecake so I am glad it turned out so well!
Next year we will get back to celebrating in style!

Just Another Day's Work...

2009-06-27T04:35:00.001-07:00

As part of the program that I am in at work, we were in charge of organizing and carrying out the annual trivia night. We started planning back in February and the big night was 25 June. All was set, we went to a lot of work and got a lot of great sponsors to donate prizes, good location, great questions, etc. The night went really well, I was the MC and had fun along with everyone else and was generally very satisfied with the evening.
So the next day, of course everyone at the office is talking about the trivia night, picking it apart, etc. I get into the elevator at lunch and a lady from my floor gets in with me (I hadn't met her yet), and she turns and says, "so there is a theory going around about last night." I respond, "oh, whats that?" And then she says, "well don't you think it strange that you knew people on both the first and second place teams?" I looked at her with disbelief, I really thought she was joking, but one look at her let me know she was dead serious!! I said, "umm, no not really, I knew people on almost all the teams." She just continued to look at me very seriously and as she walked out of the elevator said, "prove me wrong'" I just gave a little laugh and looked at her like she was retarded. How the hell do you respond to something like that?! Sore losers will do anything to make themselves feel better!
But that isn't all!! When I got back from lunch, one of my fellow trivia-organizers emailed me and said a lady in her area told her she thought that I "had too much influence because the questions were too American." Funny! There were 8 rounds, 8 of us organizing it, and I wrote 1 round. Australians love any chance they get to display their extreme jingoism.
So I am the center of quite the libelous scandal at DVA at the moment. I just makes me laugh because had I not been the MC, no one would have even entertained the thought! Too funny.

All Moved In!

2009-06-27T04:25:00.000-07:00

The cat loooved the boxes!

So it only took 100+ days to traverse the seas, but all our stuff finally arrived last week! 16 big boxes and it was so nice to finally have everything. It took a couple days, but I managed to find a spot for everything, which is shocking considering the lack of storage space in our apartment.
The sleep number bed was in one of the boxes and we were so excited to have our nice, comfy bed. We plugged it in and of course the converter wasn't strong enough so it blew the pump. So maddening. We went to Harvey Norman the next day, the furniture store where they sell sleep numbers, and they said to replace it would cost $1400!! So outrageously ridiculous. I hate how things are priced here, Australians are not very consumer savvy at all, and unfortunately the result is totally overpriced everything! Anyway, we are ordering one online (less than $100 USD) and having it shipped to my parents who will be here in a couple weeks to visit.
So now we feel more settled and it feels a bit more like home in the apartment - but I will admit I can't wait until we move into a nicer one! :)

Musings...

2009-06-01T17:55:00.000-07:00

It is really is crazy and amazing where life takes you, isn’t it? I had one of those “ah-ha” moments the other day where I realized that I have finally started “real” life. I am in a place where the rest of my life proceeds from here.
It is hard to imagine that some years ago I was struggling with staying motivated to finish my Bachelor’s degree and here I am not only with my Bachelor’s, but with two Master’s as well! I have at times doubted the practicality of my educational pursuits (especially after so many job rejection letters when I was in New York), but I have learned so much and enjoyed myself and now I am finally in a position where I can use all that knowledge and skills – and in fact amaze people that I have all that!
I think back to the BYU days with all my girlies and we certainly had some fun times! Late nights and lots of laughs. I was remembering the little videos we would make on Melissa’s webcam and then watch them over and over and die laughing.
I never imagined I would actually get to do so much travelling and see so much of the world. The world is so amazing and awesome and also incredibly sad at times. I have stood atop the gorgeous Swiss Alps and been immersed in European history just walking down the cobbled streets of a small Dutch town, and I have stood in the middle of the slums of Bangkok where the faces of the children just break your heart. There is still so much pain in this world, and the sad thing is, nobody really cares. The poverty-stricken and hungry are born that way, live that way and die that way. Even after being in it and working with an NGO to help, I can never get even a small grasp of what their lives are really like. Such is life.
I have grown up a lot over time too. I have allowed myself to open my eyes and see things as they really are. I love to learn and question things and not go with things because that is what I am told. In a non-conspiracy theorist type of way, you really can trust no one. You have to find the truth of things on your own. Knowledge is power, and we have so much capacity to learn. I have learned that there are some things I cannot change. I cannot change people’s prejudices or haughtiness or ignorance. Only we can take of our own blinders and have no control over others.
I have come a long way in life so far. I have made great friends, I have lost friends who weren’t so great afterall, I have begun my career and have goals in sight, and I have the love of my life and best friend by my side.
I am looking forward to my career in the government here in Australia and getting closer to my goal of working for the UN and living in Europe again. I love that I get to share every day with Brent and we are looking forward to buying a house, paying down our student loans, taking more exotic world trips together and enjoying being with each other. Life is good.

Finally Some Pictures!

2009-05-25T18:36:00.000-07:00

I have been in Canberra now for 4 months, wow! Brent and I have settled in well, though we are still waiting for our boxes to arrive. They have made it to Australia, but are still sitting somewhere awaiting final clearance from customs and quarantine. Hopefully it will arrive soon.

A late evening shot and view from our balcony

I have started a new placement for my job, and though I really enjoyed working in the Legal division, I am excited for this new area. I will be putting my MBA to use as I work on a project of change management dealing with integration and consolidation of processes of the 3 Acts under with the Department operates. I know, don't all be instantly jealous at that! It is actually quite interesting to me and I am looking forward to getting things done.

My office building and my office (before full of papers!)

We have been getting to know the city a bit better, though I can't wait until we eventually get a car, it really is a pain not having one! But we like to walk around and discover little shops and parks. Two weeks ago, we went to the Botanic Gardens and saw 13 "wild" kangaroos! Brent was really excited to see them as he had never seen them outside the zoo, and it had been a while for me too!

There isn't too much to update on, I work all week and we are rather boring on the weekends at the moment. It is hard to do much when the cash is super low! We have a cat so she keeps us entertained. Her name is Auska (pronounced "os-ka") and she is a tortoise shell. We got her from the RSPCA and she is about 3 months old now. She is a lot of fun and very affectionate. She loves the bath tub and sitting on your shoulder while you cook (in the picture). We love her!

And I'm Back...

2009-03-26T14:54:00.000-07:00

I have been in Australia for two months now and my computer has been broken for most of it. Still waiting on it to be fixed, but I just discovered today that I can access this from work - I thought for sure it would be a blocked site! There won't be any pictures, but I guess I'll see who reads these things and doesn't just look at the pictures :)
Canberra is an interesting city, it is very un-Australian in many ways, but it is growing on me and I am getting used to it. My cousin Luke and his wife live here so it is good to see them now and then. My Uncle Craig also works in Canberra a few days a week so that is nice too.
Brent arrived two weeks ago and it was a tough 6 weeks without him, it is sooo good to have him here finally! We were delaying his arrival since he was coming on a tourist visa and wanted to give the max amount of time we may need for his spouse visa to go through. We just got word the other day that his visa is approved so that is big news! Since we applied for it outside of Australia though, we have to leave the country to pick it up. Luckily we can pick it up at the Australian consulate in Auckland, NZ so we are making a little trip of it and will be there for a few days. Once we get that, Brent can look for a job and we can really get settled in.
I love my job with the Department of Veterans' Affairs, I am learning a lot and having a great time and am starting to see all the career opportunities I have here. Plus being a government employee has its perks (TONS of vacation time for one thing)!
I will update soon with pictures (when I take some, and when I ever get my computer back). Miss you all, come visit in the land down unda!

The Holiday Season

2009-01-12T17:04:00.000-08:00

Well it was quite the holiday season with Brent and I traveling from coast to coast as usual! We flew from Tampa to Sacramento where we did a massive rendezvous with the 20 people coming into CA to spend the holidays together. My parents and brother were coming in from Australia after my Grandmother's funeral as well as my Aunties Barbara and Diana, their husbands, and four of my cousins. My Auntie Diana and fam had been planning to come for the past year and my Auntie Barb and Uncle Rob decided last minute to come back with my parents, so it was a nice surprise! My sister-in-law and two nieces and my sister Esther drove in from Utah and my Sister Beth, her husband and my new nephew flew in from Texas. When we finally all converged and gathered our luggage, we packed the cars to the brim and drove the long 5 hours to my parents house (they live way far up in the boonies).

I love this photo of frozen juniper berries

We had a blast together, and my Aussie family celebrated their first ever white christmas, they were very excited. We did lots of sledding, snow-man building, ice skating, and bundling up. Brent and I drove to Mt. Shasta the day after Christmas and spent the afternoon snowboarding - good times!

My Uncles Rob & Manuel and cousin Jono enjoying their first white christmas; Brent and I at Burney Falls

Snowboarding at Mount Shasta

We also broke the news to the family that Brent and I are engaged. We have been talking about it for a long time and since we were with everyone we decided to spill the beans in person. Neither of us are into big deal weddings so we generally keep all this stuff low key, so this may be the first you have heard of this! :) We bought a beautiful opal ring and I love it. Opal is my favorite stone and I love having it and a very unique ring too. No date yet, but we are looking at probably sometime in early 2010.

Brent and I in the snow; My pretty ring

It was fun to get together with the family, it had been a few years since my immediate family had all been together so that plus the extra added family made for a fun vacation and good visit!

The girls got matching PJs!

The whole fam damily!

Brent and I then flew out from Reno to Washington DC to spend New Year's Eve with some of our DC friends. We had an initial big bash planned but as life goes, things happened and it got honed down to just Brent, myself and our friend Liz, who we were staying with. We still had a ton of fun though and went to dinner at an all you can eat Tapas restaurant and ate a ton, it was so good! We then went back to Liz's place and watched the ball drop, played trivial pursuit and were all so tired at 12:30 - getting old sucks!

My friend Liz and I

Brent and I got all gussied up!

On the 1st, we went to the Museum of Natural History and enjoyed ourselves there. It was surprising brimming with people, which made Brent and I happy that there are still people out there interested in science and willing to spend their holiday looking at it!
On the 2nd, we took a bus up to New York to visit Brent's Uncle and Cousin for a couple days. We also met up with my Auntie Diana and fam who were thoroughly enjoying New York City for the first time. Brent showed them around Chinatown and Little Italy and we had a great time buying cheap crappy souvenirs and eating expensive (but really good) cannoli.

Hanging with my Auntie and fam in NYC

After our cross-country adventure we flew back to Tampa and are now trying to sort and pack everything for our upcoming move to Australia.
Hope everyone had a good holiday!

Bitter-Sweet

2008-12-17T18:13:00.000-08:00

I had two large events happen in the past few days, one good and one bad. On Sunday, my Grandma Joan Perritt died. She was a wonderful grandma and I love her so much and will miss her. I am sad that I can't make the funeral in Australia, but I got to spend a wonderful afternoon with her a few months ago. When I went to Sydney for my job interview in September, I spent an afternoon with Grandma and it was great. The last time I had seen her before that was so no good, she didn't even remember who I was (she had very advanced dementia). When I saw her in September she smiled and lit up when I walked into the room and held my hand when I sat next to her. She said, "oh what are you doing here, I am so happy you are here!" She told me she loved me and that I had the most beautiful smile she had ever seen. To which of course I replied, "good genes!" My grandma was a wonderful woman and I will miss her dearly.

The good event was that yesterday Brent and I finished our MBA's and I are done with school! It was so nice to turn in our final final last night and walk out of the classroom knowing we were completely done. We are excited! We won't be attending the graduation ceremony since we will be in Australia, but I am putting up a photo from our graduation from our first Master's degree - we would look the same in this graduation!

5 Things...

2008-11-29T20:43:00.000-08:00

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Serving as School Spirit Commissioner
2. Going to plays in Ashland, OR
3. Enjoying long summers at the Beach House in Santa Barbara
4. Performing in Little Shop of Horrors as a do-op girl
5. Dreaming of going to college and leaving town!

5 things on my to-do list:
1. Figure out how to cook shark steak
2. Finish my homework
3. Submit Brent's visa application
4. Buy my plane ticket to Australia
5. Plan our New Year's bash in Philadelphia

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. Pumpkin spice frappucino
2. Chips and Salsa
3. Popcorn
4. Brownies
5. Cheese and crackers

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Pay off school loans and other debt
2. Buy a house
3. See the rest of the world
4. Invest
5. Start my own company

5 places I've lived:
1. Calgary, Canada
2. USA: California, Utah, Texas, New York, Florida
3. Europe: Austria, England, Switzerland, Netherlands
4. Bangkok, Thailand
5. Australia: Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and soon Canberra

5 jobs I've had:
1. Math & Science tutor
2. BYU Alumni Association records specialist
3. Pacific Materials Lab assistant office manager
4. Utah State Historical Society architechtural preservation assistant
5. Project Manager at Global Human Rights Defence (Netherlands)

5 people I tag:
1. Bethany
2. Heidi
3. Christy
4. Starla
5. Gilly

Visiting the Fam in Utah

2008-11-16T12:50:00.000-08:00

My little sister had surgery so I decided to go to Utah to help her out and visit the fam for a couple days. My mum came out too so not everyone was there, but a good chunk! My brother and sister in law and two gorgeous nieces live in Utah as well so it was a good time.

Claire Dressed up as Jazzercize girl

Me with the girls (post-cupcake)

I hadn't seen anyone for close to a year and a half so it was really nice to see them and I had fun. I helped Esther out at the hospital and at home, ran some errands on campus for her and otherwise just hung out and played with everyone.

Me and Mum and Me and Esther

My nieces, Josie and Claire, both had birthdays coming up so we had a little combined birthday party for them. I made Penguin cupcakes for them and they turned out pretty well. The girls were so excited for them all day. Josie helped me decorate them and she did a good job! All day Claire kept saying "time for cake? time for cake?" it was pretty funny.

The penguin cupcakes

Claire very excited about the cupcakes!

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-03T21:35:00.000-08:00

I love halloween, though my pumpkins are still sitting on the table uncarved - sad! I thought we would get a lot of trick or treaters because we live in a large culdsac neighborhood, but we ended up only getting one group of four boys. I was totally bummed out! But we went to a fun party at the Blue Martini in downtown Tampa and that was fun.
Brent and I dressed up as characters from the anime cartoon Inuyasha. Brent was the title character and I was his fellow demon-slaying Japanese school girl superhero, Kagome. I made my costume a couple months ago when we went to an Anime festival in Orlando, so it was fun to be able to use it again!

Brent as Inuyasha and me as Kagome

The actual characters

BIG news!!

2008-10-25T21:29:00.000-07:00

I found out last week I got the job in Australia! I am totally excited. It is with the Department of Veteran Affairs and it starts February 2 in Canberra. I am busy working on Brent's visa and getting everything all ready to move across the world (again). Hurray!!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2008-10-24T03:54:00.000-07:00

I can now no longer deny that I am in my "upper" twenties and though the thought of getting even older is a bit depressing, I managed to have a great day! My birthday was on the 19th and I decided I wanted to go surfing so Brent and I drove to the other side of Florida to Cocoa Beach (only about two hours or so from Tampa). It was a nice day, but crappy waves. I was a bit bummed out, but still got a board and headed out. It was so nice just to be out in the water paddling around and on a board. The current was crazy strong and the wind brought in some funky sideways waves as well so it was altogether bad surfing conditions combined with my now muscle-free upper body. I need to do some serious working out! But it was a really fun day and Brent stuck it out for me even though he really hates the beach. Love him! I also went to Ron Jon's, the largest surf shop in the world, it was awesome. If only I had the money to buy lots of stuff! In the end, I settled for a little surfboard keychain at $3 a pop - boy to I love to splurge!

Cupcake Mania

2008-10-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

I have been bored lately, so I bought a cupcake book and have been trying it out. So far I have made two, here are some pictures. Sorry that this is sooo not exciting as my past adventures and travels, I don't like normal life.

Spaghetti Cupcakes

Looks like real spaghetti, but they are cupcakes!

Shark Attack Cupcakes

I love the sharks, can you guess what they are made of?

A Quick Oz Trip

2008-10-05T20:00:00.000-07:00

About 8 months ago, I applied for a job with the Australian Department of Veteran's Affairs and last month I finally heard back from them! I successfully gained an interview and I had a week and a half notice to get a ticket and everything together and go to Sydney for the interview.
I actually got a pretty good price on the ticket so I was happy for that. It is such a pain flying from the east coast, usually I just go straight from California (I am currently residing in FL). It was a lot of travel time in bad seats.
The interview went really well and I am waiting to hear back from them by the end of this month - keep your fingers crossed! It was a fast trip, I was only there 5 nights, but I got to see my Aunties, some cousins, and my Grandma. It was great to see my Grandma especially, since when I saw her last year she wasn't doing too well and didn't know who I was. This trip was great just for that, she was so excited that I came to visit her.

My Auntie Barb and baby Samara
My cousin Ellie and I

I also got to hang out with one of my best friends, Holly, as she flew in for the day down from Brisbane. It was so great of her to come in just for the day just so we could hang out! It was fun to catch up and we had a great time as usual.

Holly and I by Harbour Bridge

It was a whirlwind of a trip but hopefully worth it. I missed Brent like crazy, it was the longest we have ever been apart! We are usually together literally 24/7 (for over 1.5 years now) so we both had a tough time, but we managed.
So here's hoping I get the job!

Back Across the Atlantic

2008-10-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

I have been out of the blogging loop for a bit, but time to get back to it. No excuse, just laziness. Brent and I returned to the US at the end of July and since we have done a lot of traveling, we decided to take a new mode of transportation back: The transatlantic ocean liner crossing on the Queen Mary 2. It was awesome. It took 6 nights, all of which were so much fun, elegant, grandiose, and downright royalty-like. It was black tie attire, high tea every afternoon, fancy balls, and out of this world food. Brent and I had an absolute blast and made some great friends too.

Embarking from Southampton, England
The elegant QM2 entryway

Look at me wearing heels!

The ship was elegant from top to bottom and I felt like royalty for a week. There is one crew member for every two passengers so the service is incredible. Drop your napkin and they pick it up a second later. They clean your room numerous times a day, leave little chocolates on the bed each night, and of course 24 hour (free) roomservice! They even slowed down and made an announcement as we passed over the Titanic site, it was pretty cool. It was a great week and definitely beats sitting in economy for a couple hours on a plane, can't wait to do it again!

Me enjoying the ride
Coming into New York harbor

Happy Birthday Brent!

2008-07-10T04:29:00.000-07:00

For Brent's birthday weekend (June 22) I surprised him by renting a car and driving to France. First, we went to Normandy for a few days and then to Paris for a few days. It was an awesome weekend.
We stayed in the city of Caen in Normandy where the big WWII museum is located. We went to the museum, which is huge, and also saw their special exhibition on 9/11 that they have set up. Everything was really well done and interesting.

After the museum, we then drove out to Omaha Beach. We went to the American Cemetery that looks out over the beach and walked down to the beach. It was strange being right there and thinking about the horrific and important battle that took place right there. It was almost hard to believe it could take place at such a beautiful spot. Sitting on the beach looking out to the shining water was a bit surreal and unbelievable.

We went to one of the German bunkers on Omaha Beach and though it is mostly closed up, it was still cool to see. There is one full bunker completely open at one of the other beaches, but it was closed that day so we didn't get to see it.

While driving through the small Norman towns, we came across a little chateau with an apple orchard that sold freshly made drinks. The owner was really nice and surprisingly spoke very good English. He also had an adorable little boy that asked as all to "chink chink" our drinks (toast them). They let us walk around the chateau and take some pictures, it was really fun.

That night was a huge festival in Caen for the summer solstice. The streets were packed, there were tons of bands and lots of streetside crepes, mmm. We didn't know the festival was happening so I didn't have my camera with me - shame!

The next morning, Brent's birthday, we drove to Paris. We had some issues with the Tom-Tom GPS, but we made it finally :) Our hotel was in a great location so that was good. We walked to the Sacre Couer, hiked up the stairs for a great city view, ate an amazing dinner then finished the evening under the lights of the Eiffel Tower.

The Sacre Couer

My favorite Eiffel photo that I took

The next day, we did a Segway tour of Paris. It was really cool and we saw a lot. It was 4 hours long, we had a great tour guide, and a small group with a couple other Aussies. We did a Segway tour in Prague last year and loved it and were not disappointed this time either! We got to see a lot of the city without getting too tired out, gotta love it. That night we took the ride up the Eiffel Tower and that was a blast.

On our final day, we went to the Catacombs which was pretty cool. Brent has wanted to go since he saw a program on it when he was young. It was a bit morbid walking among the millions of bones in patterns, but also really interesting.

Brent found a section that was placed there on his birthday, eerie!

Our final stop was the Palace of Versailles. The lines were so long so we decided not to go inside and just walked around the immense gardens. They are so huge! It was a really hot day so we tried to stay in the shade as much as possible. I have wanted to go there for so long, I loved it! Next trip we'll go inside, but we were at our limit of waiting in lines at that point!

It was an awesome weekend and we had a blast. The food was of course amazing, the people were nice, and the subway was not as stinky as expected. I have a bunch more photos on my flickr site if you care to peruse: www.flickr.com/photos/lauradolman

Gouda

2008-06-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

Brent and I looove cheese so of course we had to visit the infamous town of Gouda. Most people pronounce it "goo-da" but it is actually pronounced "how-da". In the US, most Gouda cheese is smoked and it tastes nothing like the real Gouda cheese. The real stuff is amazing! But of course all the cheese here is fantastic, it can't be beat. We went on a Sunday so it was rather quiet, but that almost made it better because it seemed as though we had the town to ourselves!

Even the decorations were cheese!

First we went to the Gouda museum where we got to see the history of Gouda cheese and how it is made. The guide was this cute little old man who didn't speak a word of English. He was funny though and took us through the whole museum all in Dutch. Since it was all in the context of cheese we were able to figure most of it out. It was fun that it was just Brent and I though.

The Gouda cheese museum

Me and our museum guide and the old weighing system

In the museum they sold fresh Gouda cheese. We bought a little wheel and then I wanted to take a picture of the ladies working there but they insisted I come behind the counter and have Brent take a picture of me there. As I went back and picked up a wheel of cheese, a little boy that had just come in with his mother, saw me go behind and so he came back too! He tried to pick up a wheel as well and it was so hilarious.

The initial picture, me behind the counter

Laughing at the boy

Mum rescues the boy! Too funny.

We walked around the town a bit and saw a few other streets and buildings that were interesting. There were cheese shops everywhere (more than in most Dutch towns) and it was great! Good times in Gouda!

I'm a cheese lady too!

Katwijk (again)

2008-06-26T07:41:00.000-07:00

The last time I went out to Katwijk (the beach near us) I lost my camera. So this time I held onto it tight (Brent's) and have some good photos! It was a gorgeous day and this time we followed the signs correctly and it was only 6k each way on our bikes instead of the 26k we went last time! I took my wetsuit with me hoping there would be a chance of surfing, but as you can see there were no waves at all. Sad! But I still love the beach so I don't have too many complaints.

On the way back from the beach, we came across a nice little farm with cows and a perfect picture spot. We stopped and not too long after standing there one of the cows came up to the gate. It was amusing at first and we took a few pictures, but then the cow started head-butting the lock on the gate. We decided not to stick around to see how intelligent the cow was so we hopped back on our bikes and rode home!

Me having a staring contest with the cow. He won.

The picture of us was taken from my bike seat, hence Brent's cutoff head!

Delft: More than just Pottery!

2008-06-14T16:02:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Brent and I decided to go to Delft for the day. Delft is famous for its pottery, an intricate blue and white style (a rip off from Chinese pottery that then became known as Delft pottery). We anticipated a couple of hours looking at the town and some pottery then head home. However, when we arrived in Delft we found out it was Theater Weekend and there were all sorts of festivities going on!

Potter's hand and some bikes dredged from the canal

The first attraction was right outside the train station. It was two guys dressed in suits dancing around an old soviet-style car. There was some music on and they were doing an interpretive dance of cold war era CIA secret agent getting Russian intelligence type of dance. It was awesome and by far the best interpretive dance I have ever seen.

In the main center there were all sorts of attractions: magicians, dancers, singers, sculptures, etc. While walking down one of the streets, suddenly around the corner came a group of people dressed as big bugs. Some were even on stilts! They were running away from the "exterminator". It was interesting and a bit creepy too.

One of the oddest, but coolest things, was a guy on in-line skates with a jet pack on his back. Yes, a JET PACK! He raced down the streets with a loud roar coming from him. You'd never be able to just rock up and do something like that in the busy streets of the US. Gotta love it.

We also discovered that Delft has awesome markets! In Leiden our markets are pretty much just produce with some clothes and etc. stuff but Delft has an array of antiques and really cool trinkets. I got a fun hat, a clog thermometer for my Dad, some cartoon puppets for the nieces, and a cool Frangelico set of Monk and cups for Brent's Aunt. It was so fun to walk through the markets and see all the stuff.

Loved this guy at the market in clogs!

We printed out a map and took a walking tour of the sights of the Dutch East Indies Company. It was based out of Delft so there was a lot to see! We some of their individual houses, the storing house, trade house, headquarters, etc. It was really interesting and nice to throw a little history in with the day - I always like that!

The trading house of the Dutch East Indies Co. and us at the Princenhof

When it got dark (which isn't until after 11 pm here), the main show was put on. It was an opera type of thing. I can't really say because there were too many people for me to be able to see. That is the one drawback of living in a country of gigantic people! I did get to see one thing, which was definitely the best part of it! There was a crane set up that raised the "clouds" of the performance. They danced around in the sky while suspended from the crane and went through the seasons. It was certainly entertaining and a great way to end a great day in Delft!

No Pictures...

2008-06-04T13:54:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, I lost my beloved camera a week ago with some fun pictures on it. I loved that camera and now I have to scrape up the money to get another one. I'll be using Brent's in the mean time until we get back to the US (no way am I going to a buy a camera in Euro). His isn't as good as mine, but it will have to do.
Last week, Brent's friend Trevor came to visit again from his army base in Germany. It was fun to have him again. We rented a row boat to cruise through the canals for a few hours and that was a blast. It was a bright sunny day so we enjoyed lunch in the boat and had an interesting time maneuvering under the small bridges. During my turn to row, I was going through a very skinny canal and was approaching a boat that was "parked" (no people). Brent tried to steer me by yelling out in boat terms ("steer port side!") knowing full well I had no idea what he was talking about and I think you can figure out what happened :) Just a little bump, no scratches or damage, but it sure was funny!
The next day we decided to ride our bikes out to the local beach, Katwijk, only 6k away. I had ridden there last year so I figured I could find my way there again as navigator. The three of us hopped on our bikes and enjoyed the flat journey which soon turned into a very long journey when I finally realized I didn't know where I was going. By the time we got home, what should have been a total of 12k, turned out to be 26k! Some navigator I was! But Holland has no hills so it was still a very nice and easy ride. There were some surfers out so I watched them enviously and then we had some snacks at a snack stand, about which time I apparently lost my camera.
It was a fun weekend and we are planning on visiting Trevor and his wife (whom I haven't met yet) for the July 4 weekend on base in Germany. We're looking forward to some American treats!

Visitors!

2008-05-11T02:14:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, Brent and I had visitors for the weekend: Kimberly and Tim Price. Kimberly is a dear friend of mine from BYU and one of what we have dubbed, "the girlies". There was a group of 9 of us girls that were together from freshman year and had a blast all the way through. I hadn't seen Kimberly in a few years and it was fun to get together and catch up. Kimberly and Tim have been living in Leipzig, Germany for the past year while Tim is doing research for his PhD dissertation in German linguistics. We had a great weekend together.
Thursday night we wandered around Leiden, checked out the castle, ate ice cream from "The Australian" (simply amazingly good ice cream) and watched the sunset. The weather has suddenly switched into full summer mode so ice cream was very welcomed.

On Friday, Kimberly and Tim spent the day in Amsterdam while I went to work. I attended a debate forum on Intercultural Dialogue (2008 theme for the EU) that had the potential to be good but was a little too P.C. so it was hard to discuss the real issues. I was glad to attend though (my boss was one of the panelists) and put in my two cents. Brent also came with me and it was fun to have him there, I don't like being gone all day at work away from him!
Back to the visitors...
On Saturday, we went to the Keukenhof, literally meaning "kitchen place", but is actually a massive garden that displays mainly tulips and also some other flowers. It was another gorgeous day so it was perfect. It closes next weekend so the crowds were quite large but it was still very peaceful and tranquil. I loved all the tulips in so many colors and types. We walked around for a few hours and still didn't see it all.

Brent and I picked our three favorite tulips and ordered the bulbs to be sent to our Mums for mothers day. They will be sent in October ready to be planted by November so I sent a nice card with the pictures of the tulips for something to open on Mothers Day. The three we ordered are: Queen of the Night (very dark purple), Daydream (bright orange) and Pink Diamond

It was a great day at the Keukenhof and I am glad we went. There are so many tulips! It was an exhausting day though so we were very tired when we got home and chilled out at the apartment for the rest of the evening. Kimberly and Tim taught and gave us a new game: "Ligretto" and we played Saturday night. Kimberly beat me by one point! I'll get her next time!
Sunday morning they boarded the train and headed back to Germany. It was a fun weekend and I am so glad we were able to get together. Who would have thought it would be in the Netherlands of all places! Who knows what crazy place we will be at our next get-together. Thanks for a great weekend Kimberly and Tim!

Queen's Day

2008-05-08T02:50:00.000-07:00

The biggest day of the year in the Netherlands is April 30th: Queen's Day. It celebrates the birthday of the queen mother and the day of ascencion of the current queen. It is a day full of tons of orange and all sorts of fun! Brent and I went to Amsterdam and braved the crowds. The city was full of bands and DJ's all over with people dancing and partying in the streets and in the canals. It was fun day! And even better because I got three days off of work!

Usually you have to pay for public toilets but the holiday brought a gift!

The "Queen" and I

The canals were full of orange-clad celebrationists!

Mardin, Turkey

2008-04-21T05:07:00.000-07:00

On April 5-10 I attended a training seminar for work in the city of Mardin in southeastern Turkey. Mardin is on the border of Syria and less than 100 miles from Iraq. There were numerous travel warnings and needless to say I was a bit apprehensive about the trip, especially without Brent.
The training went well and I improved some of my skills and knowledge about Project Management and the city of Mardin was beautiful. It looks out over the vast Syrian desert. The town is rather small, built up on a hill, very ancient, provincial, and by far the most foreign place I have been (and that is saying something coming from me!). The food was fabulous: every meal was made with lamb, mmm!
I learned a few words and dances and drank a lot of really good tea! I went to a Turkish Bath, wandered through the busy markets, bought some cheap, handmade silver products, and wore a headscarf in a Mosque.
It was a good week with lots of learning and sunshine but I missed Brent terribly (the longest we have ever been apart!) and was so happy to come back home.

Easter

2008-04-21T04:45:00.000-07:00

oops, a bit late!
Easter was definitely not the dawning of Spring in Leiden - we had snow! Crazy Dutch weather.

Brent and I had a nice, quiet Easter at home. We invited our friend Ken, an Australian we met back in January. He works for the ICC in Den Haag so I figured he would enjoy an authentic Aussie baked dinner.
I cooked up a wonderful roast leg of lamb, it was great if I do say so myself! It was interesting getting it in the first place: I went to the butcher and he didn't speak much English so I resorted to sounds and movements. I grabbed my leg and said, "baaa." We all laughed but it got the message across!

I also made mashed potatoes, veggies, gravy, bread, all sorts of appetizers, and delicious lemon squares and fruit salad for dessert. It was great!

Florence

2008-03-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

Last weekend brought a trip to one of my favorite all-time cities: Florence, Italy. I went last year and had a great time so I was excited to go again. Brent's cousin, Danielle, was here from Florida visiting so we decided to make a weekend trip to Florence.
We had gorgeous weather, which was even better coming from Holland where it is really cold and rainy. It felt so good to have the warmth of the sun on my face again. Wandering through the markets is always fun with so much to buy and the male sellers trying to woo you into purchasing something. There is always the faint smell of good food in the air and when you walk into a cafe or restaurant you get a full-scale sniff and you want to faint from the goodness of it.
The food in Florence is amazing. I wish I had another stomach so I could fit more in! We went to the best place for lunch, Mario's, two days in a row. It is really cheap and fast and tastes sooo good. They speak hardly any English and they seat you with strangers. I love it. Dinner, also for two nights in a row, was at Gato e Volpe (the cat and the wolf) - a play off of Pinocchio. The food is also so good there and the staff are very nice too.

Florence is full of museums and old buildings, there is so much to see. Last year I saw the essentials so this time I just wandered around. We went up in the tower of the Duomo; last year they were doing some construction so it was closed. The view over the city was fantastic. We also trekked up to an overlook on a hill and watched the sunset. There, too, was an amazing view that was breathtaking and the pictures can't capture how beautiful it was. The most random thing by far was when walking through some streets there was suddenly a huge gumball machine in a yard! I have absolutely no idea what it is for, but I took a picture because, what the..?!

I had a great time and can't wait to go back again sometime. I ate as much Gelato as possible, I can't get enough of it there. I am salivating thinking about it right now!

Afternoon in Amsterdam

2008-03-16T11:09:00.001-07:00

Though I live only a half hour from Amsterdam, I really don't make it there too often. I have a lot of museums to hit up so hopefully over time I'll make it to all of them. Brent's cousin Danielle is here visiting us for a week and a half and on a day that I got out of work early I was able to join them in a quick afternoon visit to Amsterdam.
First we went to the Van Gough museum which was pretty good. A little too pricey I think, but then again I don't believe in having to pay for museums, but I won't go into that! My favorite piece was a blossom painting he painted for his newborn nephew (pictured below as a print in the window). There was also a temporary gallery with work by John Millais; his famous work "Ophelia" is one of my all-time favorite paintings. I bought a print of it years ago at BYU, which I think most of my roommates did not like a crazy drowning girl on the wall :)

Next, we took some photos with the new slogan of the city "I AMsterdam." It is a relatively new approach to depicting the city; they are trying to move away from the view of just the drugs and prostitution to a city with a rich history and everyday people. Which it does have!

And to counteract that we of course took a walk through the red light district so Danielle could see what it is about. Its definitely another world. Its not as shocking as you would expect, but not my favorite place to be.

So it was a nice visit and I was able to visit my favorite frites (fries) stand. It is called Mannekin Pis (yes, like the highly disappointing statue in Brussels) and has the best frites, which I get with cheese sauce on them, mmm mmm they are good!

Bike Tales

2008-03-05T15:18:00.000-08:00

I now feel truly inducted into Dutch culture: The Dutch ride their bikes everywhere and all the time, no matter what the weather is like. There are rarely any parking lots but the bike lots abound, and are always full. In SAT style, Bikes are to Holland like Asians are to Asia. Seriously, they are everywhere (even many are dumped in the canals).
A couple days ago the wind was extremely strong. I did my usual ride to the train station to head to work; about a 10 minute ride. The wind blew into me so strongly that it took me about 15 minutes to get there and my legs were like jello when I got off the bike. Also, a guy pulled up right behind me so he could use me as a wind-block. I was mad I hadn't thought of it first.
Yesterday when I got off the train on my way home from work I was greeted by very cold snow (with of course a lot of wind behind it). The Dutch weather is crazy at this time of year; you literally have all four seasons in one day. It only snowed for about 20 minutes, and of course that was the time I had to ride my bike home. It was so cold and I was freezing and soaked to the bone by the time I got home. Luckily I have the best housewife ever and Brent had turned up the heat and had a nice hot cup of tea ready for me when I walked in the door. I've survived the worst the Dutch bikerides have to offer!

February Update

2008-03-02T14:00:00.000-08:00

I got a little behind and now have a month to catch up on, but don't worry, there really isn't too much.
1) I started an internship at Global Human Rights Defence (www.ghrd.org) as a Project Assistant. I am brainstorming/formulating projects and writing/researching grants to get the funding for the projects. GHRD mainly deals with under-represented victims of human rights abuses in South Asia (India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, etc.) though it is hoping to expand into other geographical areas as the organization grows. It is very interesting and I am enjoying it a lot. It keeps me busy and also away from Brent all day but it is a great opportunity and the break I have been hoping for in order to eventually get a (paying) job. The office is located in The Hague (Den Haag) which is only a ten minute train ride from Leiden so it isn't too much of a commute at all.
2) Valentine's Day was very nice. I had to work but when I got home I was greeted by a beautiful sunset and an amazing dinner spread. We had decided no gifts, but that didn't really happen. I got Brent one of those small hand-held massagers and Brent bought me an awesome micro/grill/convection oven. It may sound like a degrading domestic gift but I LOVE it. Kimberly-I'm sure you understand what it means to be able to have an oven in the house! I am so glad I no longer have only two small burners to try and cook everything on. Now I can cook anything I want, hurray!
3) Brent's friend Trevor came and visited for the weekend. Trevor is in the army and is currently stationed in Germany so we took advantage of the close proximity. He was able to jump on a train and he and Brent were able to catch up and have a good weekend together. They have been buddies since high school and it was great for me to get to meet him as well. We will be making a trip out to Germany to visit him and his wife probably in a month or so.
4) My sister Bethany called not too long ago to tell me she is having a baby boy and I am very excited (I knew in December, but just found out the sex). I already have two gorgeous nieces and now I will have a nephew, yay! She is due in August and I already have some cute little Dutch baby clothes picked out to send back over the seas.
A Great Month!

Anniversary

2008-01-22T16:14:00.000-08:00

The 22nd was our first anniversary and it was a great day. Even the weather cooperated and we had a rare day with clear blue skies and no rain at all! In true Dutch fashion, Brent got me some beautiful orange tulips and a really nice vase to put them in. I got him a stuffed animal cat to try and placate the fact that he doesn't have his cat here with him. We took advantage of the wonderful weather and spent the better part of the day walking around. We went to the Leiden "Castle" - an old lookout post on a man-made hill. It offers fantastic views of the city. We had a bit of lunch, walked around a bit more, came back to the apartment and attempted to do some homework but ended up just relaxing and then went to dinner at the oldest pancake house in Holland. Gotta love the pancakes! It was a great day and to add a bit of mushy-ness it has been the best year of my life. I love Brent so much and have the best friend in the world!

Nederlanders

2008-01-19T14:42:00.000-08:00

As of the 13th, Brent and I are the newest residents of the Netherlands (aka Holland). We are here for a year studying to get our MBA's at Webster University in Leiden. Leiden is a great small-ish University town about a half hour away from Amsterdam. We spent a few months in Leiden last year as part of our International Relations degree studies and loved it. After a few months back in the US unsuccessfully looking for jobs we decided to return to school to get a useful degree and so we packed up the bags and flew across the seas yet again.