March 2013

Hello Everyone,

Well it's time again for a quick monthly recap in pictures.  I know some of you have been waiting patiently to see our kitchen renos, so let's start with a good old "before" picture:

Mmmm, yes, the 70s at their finest... complete with a dishwasher that barely worked, yet was named "Computermatic"... wishful thinking

 And voila, the finished product... MUCH better, and WAY more space to prepare food. 

Plenty of drawer space, but somehow we managed to fill them all up very quickly

 

Superb new fan-forced oven... bakes everything very nicely. 

One of my favorite parts- the tupperware drawer, which we use probably more than anything else.  Love having it all neatly organized... there is a special area for each size of container.

sink and dishwasher area... Mom, see the new Bamix mixer? :)

And along with the newly renovated kitchen, I purchased some new placemats to replace the cheap, labour-intensive cloth Kmart ones (seriously, every time we spilled on them, which is more often than I care to say, they needed to be washed, dried, and ironed for them to look right... who's got the time?)

These new placemats tell the Australian story/song of "Waltzing Matilda"... each placemat has a slightly different picture on it, and they're painted by a famous Australian artist... couldn't decide if they were cheesy or nice, but in the end I decided on very nice indeed.  Good to have a little Australian-ness in our home. 

By the way, back to the reno, our landlord did most of it while we were away in Canada over Christmas.  The plan was for him to do both the kitchen and bathroom and then raise the rent a bit, but he ran into heaps of delays which prevented him from doing the bathroom, so in the end he didn't raise the rent at all, which we were thrilled about.

The only part that wasn't so fun was that he still wasn't finished the kitchen when we walked in the door after 20 hours of traveling back to Australia from Canada.  There he was, sanding the ceiling, floor half-tiled, no handles on any of the drawers and cabinets, backsplash not tiled, windowsill in shambles, etc.  Over the next few weekends he took care of most of it, but the extremely dodgy cabinet guy didn't turn up to put handles on till over a MONTH later... we were getting a little tired of pulling the drawers open with tape :(

Anyways, first world problems, I know.  We are thankful for a roof over our heads at all. 

A couple weeks ago we checked out the Noosa Surf Festival, about 40 minutes north of us.  They had all kinds of surf events and races, including a dog-surfing event which drew a massive crowd.  So fun to watch. 

 Since Good Friday, Andrew and I have been on school holidays, which means there is now plenty of time to swim in pool, go to the beach, and out for coffee... well, not that much time since I've got heaps of little projects on the go, and Andrew is still plugging away at his masters.  He is just working on finishing his major paper for course #9 (out of 10), and will hopefully be done the whole masters this June, which he can't wait for.  He is working so hard on it, and doing so well... I am very proud of him. 

 And speaking of going out for coffee, I recently won a voucher for 30 free Frappucinos at Starbucks for posting a cool Frap picture on their Facebook page.  We have been making good use of the voucher, and it feels so nice to wander into Starbucks, order whatever you want, see them ring up a massive total, and then hand over the voucher and walk outta there totally for free. 

I took this next pic this afternoon and am gonna post it on their site... hoping to win a second voucher :)

On our walk along the beach to Starbucks today we saw a couple randomly practicing some stunts... not sure if they're in the circus or what, but it was something you definitely don't see every day.

Lastly, I was very excited this month to officially launch my fitness and nutrition website/blog, Busy & Fit.  On it you'll find a bunch of healthy recipes for meals, baking, and smoothies, free workout videos to follow along with, and fitness product reviews.

Check it out, have a scroll through, and leave a comment there if you like it :)
  www.busy-and-fit.com

That's it for now... stay tuned for April 2013's post coming in a month.

~Corinna for Team AC

Jan-Feb 2013

 

 Hey Guys,

Well, the last few months have been pretty crazy.  First, we returned in early January from our amazing trip home to Vancouver.  I won't post pics of that since most people who read this blog were there anyways and don't really need another recap.  Suffice it to say that we had a wonderful time and had a jam-packed schedule. 

One big newsy item is that I recently got a job… very unexpected since it wasn't posted, I didn't apply for it, and just randomly got an email one day asking if I would be interested.  I popped in a few days later for an interview, and was hired the next day.  I'm teaching kindergarten to grade 5 PE, grade 9 English and Socials, and grade 10/11 modern history, so a very mixed bag in all.  The school is a very small Christian school out in the bush… today was not the first time I saw kangaroos hopping by the window :)



My job is only 3 days a week (Tues-Thurs), and the other 2 days I'm available for subbing.  The first few weeks of school I didn't have any sub work (too early yet), but the past 3 days that I've been available I worked. 

Andrew is also working at a new school this year, which he is loving.  It's only 7 minutes from our house, so his commute is waaaay, shorter than it was last year, plus he's only teaching Math this year (not Science as well like he was last year), so he has a lot less to prepare.  He's still working away on his Masters, which he'll finish this June.  He's definitely looking forward to being done as it's such a time-eater. 

I will let the pics and captions tell the rest of our Jan-Feb story:

A few weeks ago we had a massive storm ("ex-cyclone Oswald") which brought a ton of rain and... foam.  Basically the ocean pounding across the coffee rock on our beaches produced foam that washed up over the road, and went as high as the first story of the Thai restaurant we love to go to at the bottom of our street (see below).  It looked like a giant snowstorm had hit, only when we went outside to investigate, we got sunburned ;)

There were heaps of people out surveying the foam, playing in it, taking pictures, etc.  Shortly thereafter it rained again, which melted the foam down.  The poor restaurant was filthy on the outside, and the entire hotel needed to be pressure-washed the whole next day.

We also had a power outage for 4 days, which meant dinner by camp-light (see above), storing groceries at neighbors', and cooking there too.  They were very kind to us and gave us a key to their place so we could come and go as we needed.  It was pretty strange, but out of the 18 apartments in our building, only 3 were without power. 

The storm left a lot of destruction:

We've also been enjoying dinners with friends, and above, celebrating Australia Day with our friends Matt and Line.  (Matt lost his arm in a motorcycle accident ages ago... he has a tattoo on that shoulder that says "ouch").  He's pretty amazing with what he can all do though... super fit.

 Here is my classroom door on the first day of school... pretty much NO Australian can pronounce our last name, so I spelled it out for them just to set the record straight from the start.  We usually get "Non, None, Nan, Naan, Nay-yan," or some variation on that theme.

 We've also done another hike up Mt. Coolum again... a quick easy hike with a beautiful view. 

 The first weekend of school we spent a few days shopping for new work clothes and shoes for Andrew... and here's the result.  Pretty spiffy, eh?  These kind of dress shoes you wear without socks (or tiny nearly-invisible ones in this case), but then he was informed that this isn't the proper dress code at his school... so now he has to wear socks half-way up to his knees... bummer.

Another shot at the top of Mt. Coolum with my friend Monica, who is also Canadian.

 My friend Christie and I also took a little surfing lesson a few weeks ago, which was helpful.  Love this sport. 

 Our good friend Becky from England came to stay with us for a few nights last weekend... she used to live in our building, went traveling around Australia, and came back here again before flying back home last week... this is us having a BBQ at the beach with her on Valentine's Day. 

 And speaking of Valentine's Day, we got this great Bamix hand mixer that we are loving so far... so easy to use and clean.  Here I was making healthy pancakes... Andrew definitely didn't love them. 

And finally, we got a new car... a silver 2008 Hyundai Getz that we got second-hand after looking at several of them.  They are so common here that it's not unusual to find yourself parked next to an identical one.  Kind of like the Honda Civi phenomenon in BC.  (ours is on the left in case you were wondering).

We still have the old one (the "Blue Flame"), but since we're both working now, we needed a second car for sure.  I get to drive the new one to work since my commute is 3x as long as Andrew's, but we both drive it on the weekends... it's our "fancy car"... the newest we've ever owned.

Okay, that's it for now... talk soon.  Hope you're all doing well.  Let us know what's new. 

~Corinna for Team AC

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.