Movember, 2012

Hi Guys,

Seems like November has flown by, so here are a few snaps to tell the tales:

 "Yogurt World" recently opened near us... it's a self-serve frozen yogurt place where you choose your flavours, then top it with anything you want from their topping bar.  The more gluttonous you are, the more you pay, as it goes by weight.  These are our good friends Greg and Sunelle who have just moved down here from Rocky... they've rented a unit just 2 blocks from us, so we're pretty excited.

Andrew is getting lots of action on his longboard these days, which he loves.  It's so nice to be able to skateboard right by the beach.

As the end of the school-year approaches, lots of private schools here have this special tradition... some schools call it "the walk of faith," but this school (where I was subbing at that day) just call it "the tunnel."  It's basically where all the grads walk down a sidewalk lined by the grade 1-11 kids (plus all the parents, grandparents, etc) after the grad assembly.  Everyone gets to high-five them and wish them well and say their last good-byes (as the grade 12s finish school a few weeks before everyone else.)   Quite touching.  Most of the grads seemed to be pretty emotional going down the line. 

Last Sat we gathered a bunch of friends (Greg, Sunelle, Becky, Jo, and Andrew and I) to hike up Mt. Coolum, which has an amazing ocean view once you get to the top.  Emily, Mum, and Dad, you will remember doing this with us when you were here. 

It's crazy b/c as we were going up we bumped into this chick running it who said she was doing it 5 times in a row that morning.  

And here is Andrew arranging some flowers that he picked from our building's bushes for us.  He is quite talented at this art-form  ;)

I've been having quite a few days off recently as there's not a huge need for supply teachers at the moment... so sometimes I go down to the beach.  Last week I saw bus-loads of elementary-school kids getting free surf lessons at our local surf club, which I think is so cool.  I guess it's kind of the equivalent of kids in BC going ice skating during school hours.

We have definitely hit summer now with temps regularly above 30 degrees.  This past weekend we spent plenty of time at the beach.  It was so nice that Andrew could have a fully relaxed weekend as he just finished course #8 of his masters, as well as finishing all his marking and report cards.  He also got to go fishing up the local river with a colleague, and hang out with some friends. 

 On Sat night we met a bunch of friends down at the beach for the Christmas fireworks... this pic was taken while we were waiting... gotta get down there early to get get your prime piece of picnic-blanket real estate :)  Unfortunately we didn't get a big group pic since it was dark by the time all our friends arrived.

A couple weeks ago, Andrew was strolling along the beach when he bumped into 3 Canadians... he actually identified them b/c the guy was wearing a Leafs shirt, so he went over and struck up a conversation... next thing we knew they were at our place for appies and wine this week- fun times.  James is a physiotherapist, his wife Jen is an occupational therapist, and their cousin Julia is a writer.  They are taking a year off to travel the world, so it was fun swapping travel stories and visa procurement experiences :)

That's all for now... we are getting ready to board the plane in 4 days to come home for Christmas.  We fly to Sydney on Sat, stay the night with our friends there, and then fly to Vancouver on Sunday (we actually arrive before we leave... wrap your head around that). 

We're really excited to see everyone, go snowboarding, and have some Tim Horton's (amongst many other things). 

While we are gone, our landlord is gonna be renovating our 1970's kitchen and bathroom, so it should all look pretty flash by the time we get back.  Looking forward to having kitchen drawers that actually slide open, and our bathroom vanity not being puke-colored anymore.  I know, I know, we've got it better than 2/3 of the world... shouldn't complain at all.

K, catch you all later... we'll see most of you in just a few days now :)

~Corinna for Team AC

Sept/Oct 2012

Hey Guys,

Sept and Oct have flown by, so here's a quick re-cap in pictures...

First and most importantly, Steve and Christina got married in Vancouver in Sept... Andrew went back for the wedding, and had a great time.  Congrats, you two, and welcome to the family, Christina- so glad to have you as a Nairn-sister, and looking forward to fun times ahead.  

While Andrew was away, my friend Sunelle stayed with me and we got up to all kinds of antics, including going to a Bec Laughton show in town... good times:

Changing subjects, at our beach there is a kids program called "Nippers" which teaches kids beach safety and trains them up to become pre-life guards.  You can see how packed the beach was on this early morning... every cap-color was a different age group; the green-capped kids you can see here were 5 and so tiny.  They do all these races on the sand, and then hop in the water for some swimming exercises.  

In early Oct we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving with some Canadian friends we had met at the Canada Day party in Brisbane in July.  Such good times. 

It was a complete turkey dinner... but no pumpkin pie... doesn't seem to exist here.  I've put in a formal request at our grocery store to at least stock canned pumpkin so I can make it next year. 

And then some new Canadian friends we've met in our area... Graeme and Monica.  They are both doing their one-year post-grad teaching degree here (like Andrew and I did at UBC)... we had them over for dinner a few weeks ago, and have also been running, boating (see pics below), and have a hiking trip planned.  

Last weekend Andrew and I renewed our First Aid and CPR course, which took all day.  I think I've done this course about 5 times now since high school.  First Aid is good for 2-3 years, but CPR is only good for 12 months before you have to renew.  Here's Andrew giving "Little Anne" a good pumping:

And some more new friends... Alistair and Adri, who I met at work.  They've just moved here from South Africa, and we are having plenty of fun with them and their 4 kids.  They also live really near the beach, like us, but about a 25-minute walk/5 minute drive north.  On Sat night we were kicking a soccer ball around the beach... great way to end the day.

The weather here is definitely warming up now, so we are back to our broad-brimmed hats outside... you would get SO burned without them.   (I think it looks like there's a bird sitting on Andrew's head here.)

Ah yes, here are the boating pics... we rented a little 4-horse-powered "tinny" (what they call a tin fishing boat here) and cruised thru the canals for a couple hours (same place we kayaked with Gill and Tony when they were here).  Here's Graeme and Monica:

And me driving the boat (I sucked)... when you're steering this contraption, moving it to the left makes you go right and vice versa... never quite got that thru my head.   A very wiggly ride. 

Some rooftop sangria and snacks at Graeme and Monica's place as the sun set:

A meal with our friends Greg and Sunelle... we met them when we lived up in Rocky, and they have just moved down here... this was their "Welcome to the Coast" lunch.  So glad to have them here with us now.   Greg is a policeman, and he actually will have the pleasure of patrolling our beaches on a little 4x4.  Not too shabby of a job :)

And the latest big event was the Matchbox 20 concert... the tickets were a birthday present for Andrew, but he had to wait a few weeks for the concert to actually happen...

Before the concert we met up with our good friends Dave and Niki for dinner at an Asian place...

... and then arrived at the concert a little early... the lights were still on and it was amazing how many people were packed into the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.  

The show was so cool and I'm so glad we got to go.  Nothing like live music.  By the way, one of the opening bands was also really good... check out "Evermore" online (their latest album, Follow the Sun, is terrific.)  

In other news, work seems to be winding down for me now, as we're getting close to the end of the school year (4 weeks to go).  The grade 12s have just finished now, so all the teachers who normally teach grade 12 are being given all the work that sub/supply teachers normally get, so it's slim pickings for us.  Oh well, plenty for me to do around home working on my other projects, so it's not all bad.

That's all for now.  Can't believe how soon we'll be heading back to Vancouver for a visit... just over 4 weeks now.  Getting excited, making lists, arranging calendars, etc. 

Talk soon,

~Corinna for Team AC

ps- please let me know if you'd like to see more/less pictures and writing in our blog posts... I can tailor to suit :)  Keep in mind this post was twice as long as usual as I had to cover 2 months instead of 1, like I normally do. 

August 2012

Hi Guys,

August has flown by, and here's a quick recap of it from our end.  This month has seen Andrew finish course #7 of his masters... and another A was earned.  For his final project, he had to write a 20-page research paper based on seven big articles that he had to find, so he was super busy with that, (and I was the proof-reader, tea-maker, and shoulder-rubber).

The bonus was that once he finished his course in the first week of August, he had the rest of the month off... it was so nice having my husband "back," and we packed quite a lot in, the first of which was a stand up paddle (SUP) lesson that we had bought on Groupon. 

Since it's winter here, the water and air are pretty cold, and even though it was sunny at 8am, I definitely didn't want to fall in, so I was super gentle on the rowing. 

Andrew getting measured for his paddle-height. 

All ready to go... just having a quick lesson on the beach. 

The instructors showing us how NOT to fall off.

 That same night we went to the 50th birthday party of one of Andrew's workmates... she said on the invitation that it was a "winter theme," so we came all bundled up in sweaters and scarves, but a lot of people had gone all out with renting polar bear outfits, etc.  We had a great time dancing and hanging out with all kinds of new people. 

Furry friends at the 50th birthday party

Down the street from our house is a Thai restaurant, and we tried it out with some people from our apartment building... actually, they've all moved to new places now, but we still get together sometimes... they are from Finland and the UK... fun times, and super yummy food.

Thai Street restaurant

A couple weekends ago there was a massive marathon, 1/2 marathon, 10km, 5km, and 2km race that went right by our place.  It was really great to go watch everyone.  

Originally we had planned to run the 10km race, but when I looked into it, it cost $50 each to do it, and we just couldn't part with $100 for a run by the beach that we do for free all the time anyways, so no go. 

Apart from that, another interesting thing happened.  Before we found out the cost of the race and were all keen to run it, we bought matching Nike dry-fit shirts (in different colors though) to encourage us to train for it.  Andrew wore his about twice, and I washed it and hung it on our building's communal washing line to dry, along with two other of his white shirts.  

A couple hours later I went down to pick them up... only two shirts there, and the nice new Nike one was missing.  Now, you can't see our washing line from the street, so it would have to have been some thief from our building, which is rare.  I posted a sign on the wall asking anyone who may have taken it "by accident" to please return it to our apartment.  No luck.  

About three weeks went by, and then last weekend we were walking by the clothes line and saw Andrew's shirt hanging there with another dude's wet clothes.  We were sure it was Andrew's b/c it had the same little flaw in the material on the shoulder, and the side-tag was cut out, just like Andrew had done.  So Andrew grabbed it off the line, stuffed it up his hoodie, and "stole" his own shirt back.  :)

Since then, we've been trying to sleuth out who this guy is, and we think it's the new guy who's just moved in... haven't said anything to him about it, but stealing laundry is not a good way to make friends, mate.

Anyways, Andrew is happy to have his shirt back, and will hopefully use it to race in a cheaper 10km some time down the road. 

And speaking of Andrew, last Friday I came home from doing groceries after work, and he proudly told me, "You'll never guess what's on the kitchen table for you."   And this is what I found:

 Man, I thought we were gonna be having strawberries for dinner when I saw this (and we pretty much did)  :)  Turns out he had bought a massive container for $5 off someone at work, and had then come home, washed them, and cut up heaps of them for us to eat.  Very nice. 


In other news, I am still training a few friends twice a week in our building's parking lot, which is going well.  

 A couple of weeks ago though, I got my certificates in the mail saying that I'd finished my entire Personal Trainer course now, so I decided it was time to get some paying clients.  To do this, I thought we'd move our sessions out of the parking lot and down near the beach where my services would be more visible to passer-bys.  So here we are...

The  first day I made a sign on my whiteboard and propped it up against a tree near where we were working out:

That day I noticed that a lot of people who were passing by were walking or running, so for the next session I adjusted the sign a little... better marketing hopefully:

 Unfortunately, so far no one has called.  The closest I've come is a little boy (about 6) the other day walking by with his parents taking a look at us, reading the sign, and then saying in this little whiny voice, "Mummy, can I try that?"... his Mom took him by the hand and walked off.

And then this other dude roared by in a truck, stuck his head out the window, and bellowed out, "Yeaaaaaah baby- love you girls."  Not quite what I was aiming for, but hey, not gonna give up quite yet. 

All in all, not a bad view for when you're working out:

Okay, these last few pics are a few more for my Dad to prove I can cook  :)

Scrambled eggs, brown rice, and veggies with Greek yogurt

Baked chicken fajitas with avocado... Andrew's are wrapped up, and mine are not (I don't like too many carbs at dinner)

Andrew's cheeseburgers by candlelight... again, I had mine bun-less

Baked chicken breast over salad with tomatoes, roasted pine nuts, and balsamic dressing

And then some baking... Protein Power Muffins with raspberries, quinoa, and chia seeds.

 That's all for now, peeps... more to come next month. 

~Team AC

July 2012

Hey Guys,

Hope you're all doing well.  July was really busy for us with Andrew working on his masters and me doing lots of little things and working quite a bit.  He will be finishing course #7 out of 10 in about 2 weeks and then have 2-3 weeks off before starting course #8.  I am so proud of him for working so hard on it.

We have been having some cold winter weather here, but it's still beautiful and sunny in the afternoons... around 20 degrees.  It's just in the mornings and evenings that it gets really cold and you have to bundle up, but still nothing compared to living in Canada, England, or China, so it's all good.

We have hung up the surfboard for the winter since we don't have a wetsuit and the water is too cold otherwise.  It will be nice to get back into surfing in a few months when it warms up again, but we're keeping fit with lots of other stuff for the time being.
 
I am hoping to finish my Personal Trainer course in the next couple of weeks, and then will see what happens next.  I'm exploring some different options including working for myself (running boot camps on the beach near our house), or working for someone else for a bit until I get the hang of things.  Or maybe I'll do both at the same time.  Who knows... we'll see.  I'm not too stressed about it, which is kinda how you get after living around laid-back Aussies for a while. 

A few weeks ago I was speaking to my parents on the phone and my Dad asked if I'm getting any better in the kitchen (it wasn't exactly my forte growing up).  I told him I've added quite a few more meals to my repertoire, but I'm not sure if he really believed me, so I've been snapping a few pics here and there of things I've made, and have posted them below.  If anything looks appealing to you and you'd like the recipe, just let me know and I'll email it to you. 

Grilled Cheeseburger Wraps

Crustless Italian Quiche

Taco Soup

Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

"Banana Banana Bread"

Cheesy Spinach Orzo with black olives

the beginnings of Energy Balls...

...Energy Balls finished product (recipe is courtesy of my sister, Sylvia... thanks, Sylv)

Baked Apple Pie Egg Rolls

...and to finish off, some flowers Andrew recently got me... so pretty, I love how they smell, but I don't like how the little orange things fall out of the big white flowers and get orange pollen-y powder stuff all over the table. 

That's it for now...

Stay awesome,

~Corinna for Team AC