things I still miss

I've been away from home for 9 months now. That is a long time. If I had gotten pregnant the day I left America, my baby would already be born by now! How crazy is that?! Well I've made a few lists of things that I have been missing so far, and here is my last batch of things I miss about good ole America! 

LUBBOCK! Sweet West Texas. Lubbock probably doesn't appeal to everyone, but after living there for 5 years, I grew to love it! There is just something about your hair being blown back by gale force winds, and dust grinding between your teeth (: But seriously, Lubbock is wonderful and you all should go visit! To my extended family: apparently I wasn't a good enough excuse for you to go to this great town, but now that WVU is in the big12 you have no excuse! See yall at the Jones AT&T stadium on Oct 13!

BARNES AND NOBLE! Who doesn't love getting to read all of the magazines for absolutely free?! There is a magazine store in the CBD called Magnation, but they don't have Southern Living, and their People are always outdated. Not cool, Melbourne.

DEL PUEBLO! If you're not from Northwest Houston, then you have no idea about this fabulous place, but it is a local favorite. On pretty much any night of the week you are guaranteed to bump into someone you know, and their food is great - especially their queso! 

 CHEAP HAIR PRODUCTS! Oh how I miss walking into Wal-mart and being able to buy a bottle of mouse for $3. You can't get hair products under $15 here, and that is just too much money for me to pay. I wish I could go without product, but I'm not that lucky. So instead, I'm semi-surviving on what my parents brought my over when they visited, but I'm thrilled to stock up on these goodies when I get home. 

YARDS! The houses here don't have big yards like we do at home. Most of the homes have little tiny front yards, and a fence right at the sidewalk which makes it super uninviting and unappealing to me. 

 BAHAMA BUCKS! mmmm.. yall these opposite seasons are so weird! It feels like winter, but Christmas isn't for 8 more months and my mind knows it is April so I'm expecting Spring. And if it were spring weather, that would make me think of snowcones. And when I think of snowcones, I think of Bahama Bucks!

CHICK-FIL-A! Abby and I have already decided that this is going to be our first meal when we get home! What's not to love about this place? I'm thinking of stealing a whole suitcase full of chick-fil-a sauce since I've been deprived of it for the past 9 months. It only seems fair, right?!

HONEY BUNCHES OF OATS! I haven't found a cereal here like it yet!

A DISHWASHER! We handwash all of our dishes, and it's not that I mind doing the dishes, I just feel like they all need the kind of clean you can only get from a dishwasher. 

MANICURES/PEDICURES! I'm not one of those girls who goes to the nail salon fortnightly, but it is fun to splurge every once in a while and go get pampered! If I chose to do that here, I wouldn't be able to afford groceries for a few weeks! WAAAY too expensive! 

Ok, so there you have it. Just a few more things that America has to offer me that Australia does not. 

xoxo

CAIRNS!

Well I did it! I can now say I've been to the Great Barrier Reef! Something I remember learning about in elementary school - so fun, right!?

We were 50kms off shore, and it was so strange to be in the middle of the ocean, and not able to see any land. I LOVE the beach, but I've got a pretty big fear of sharks. I'm the girl who requests to not be dipped in the water after parasailing for fear that a shark is going to come out of now where and snatch me, so I'm not going to lie, I was pretty scared that I would get eaten by a great white shark on this trip and never make it back. 

We were able to go scuba diving and snorkeling while at the reef. Scuba diving was a disappointment to me. The area of the reef that we went to was very gray and bland - not was you think of when you think of the Great Barrier Reef. I guess Finding Nemo set the bar kind of high! Snorkeling was great, though. We saw some super bright coral and neon fish. It was so fun to play with the coral (even though we weren't supposed to) and watch how it reacted!

The crew on our boat was a blast! They were crazy and a little bit creepy, but they made our day super fun! 

Our second day in Cairns was spend in the Rainforest!!! After riding in a gondola for about an hour, we made it to this cute little town and were able to explore for the afternoon. 

We spent some time in a butterfly museum. This little guy had a torn wing, and was so willing to let you hold him!

Thanks for the photo-op little guy!

We also got to go to a bird sanctuary.

LOOK AT THAT THING! Did you even know a bird like that existed? I mean, seriously..what is that!?

This guy was a stinker! Apparently he is still pretty young, and wants anything and everything. Maybe he is going through the terrible twos? He was trying to bite my finger nail here. Maybe bright blue polish wasn't the best idea!

The highlight of our rainforest trip was MAYA!

This sweet little baby just came to hang out with us for a little bit! The lady said, "be a tree" and then handed him to me for the picture. Poor kid was so sleepy he couldn't even keep his eyes open! 

We found this guy on one of our walks through the rainforest. Can you see his huge web?! eww, gives me the heebeejeebees just looking at it again!

I loved walking through the rainforest and seeing how the plants were all intertwined! 

UGH it was so humid in Cairns! It felt like I was home in Houston! 

We had a blast on our super short trip, and get to add it to the list of adventures we have had this year! 

We leave to come home in 10 weeks, and we are going out with a bang! We've got big exciting trips planned for the next 2 month, trying to take advantage of being on this side of the world! 

So until next time..

XX

as of late..

WOOF! It has been one month since I've talked to yall. I told yall I couldn't guarantee that I'd keep up with this thing!

We had a fun little dinner party for St. Patrick's Day, and this was our dessert. Thanks to Pintrest, Abby and I were able to make these rainbow rice krispies. For dinner we had an all green salad, green pasta, garlic bread, and green drinks. It made me want to have a festive theme party for every holiday!

Melbourne has a Moonlight Cinema and so we spend one evening under the stars cuddles up watching This Means War. Just another fun thing this city offers its people. 

See that girl on the top left? That is Amy. She lived here for 6 months as an Au Pair, and unfortunately we only met her a few weeks before she left to go back home, but we had fun spending her last night in the city to send her off. 

We kept the child in each of us alive this Easter by dying eggs. 

Our little circle of friends (:

Two reasons for this picture: one, my hair is shorter and two, the huge bruise on my leg. My hair was so long before. The ends were dead and it was all stringy and scraggly, and I wasn't willing to pay for a haircut. So what did I do? I straightened my hair, grabbed some scissors and a mirror, went to the backyard and started chopping. I figured that since I have curly hair straight lines aren't really that important and it was so long that I had plenty of room to mess up. I think I ended up chopping off 5inches. 

And of course, pictures never do anything justice so this bruise is actually worse than it looks. How did I get this? I fell in the shower. Maybe it doesn't happen to everyone, but I am now officially on the list of people that it has happened it. 

happy friday the 13th yall. keep away from those black cats!

You can expect another update soon. On Tuesday, we leave for the GREAT BARRIER REEF!!! And I'm THRILLED about it!!!