5 Things...

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

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!

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!!

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!

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

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

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!