Cara got me drunk...

 That's right people, Cara, the Preggers, peer pressured me to drink by myself. She insisted that since her and Toff are now boring-married-pregnant people, I deserved a day of fun. And "fun" in our books is classified as day drinking. To be fair I have to do research for when we have visitors (in the near future, wink wink nudge nudge) so that we may easily hop in the car and head to my favorite spot. When Cara first suggested that wine tasting be our agenda for the day, I thought awesome! it'd be nice to go to one or two places and sip on some fermented grapes, enjoying the winter sunshine.

The weather was so gorgeous it's hard to remember that it was technically still winter. Virginia summer time of humidity bathing you in water as soon as you leave your house is hard enough to handle. If this is winter, will I be able to survive the summer months unbaked? In our sunshine loving mood it was easy to forget how much time had passed, it was only the next day that I realized we had gone to 5. Yeah, 5 wineries, 5 free wine tasting for me. Needless to say by the end of the day I was doneski, and yet Cara still managed to get me to walk to the sunset. After that she tucked me in for a nap and some water, cooked me dinner, and curled up to watch a movie. It was only after the closing credits were finished did I finally feel sober again. Thanks for the wonderful memory forgetting/making day, Bean!

As you all have no doubt been able to piece together, our Ma-Mom-Mommy has finally landed! And what, pray tell, do we end up doing? Why buying baby shower supplies at the local ABC Dan Murphy Store. Cheers!

Love!
-Kiki.
(No Cara's were harmed to consume alcohol for the benefit of this posting.)

All the places you can go

My four favorite things in Australia: Toff, Bean, Belly, & Ocean.

It has occurred to me lately that now that Cara and I are spending more time together our blogging has become extremely similar. Case in point, I was going to write about our trip to see the sunset with rum and diet coke and root beer float (and giggle at the unintentional rhyming of our beverages), but alas, she has already beat me to the punch.

Shadows at previously mentioned sunset stroll

It still amazes me that no matter how much time passes, it's as if we've been spending all day everyday together. Ex: Who else would I be able to have a full conversation about how strange Ewan McGregor's name is? "Ewan, youin trouble!" "Whatcha doin Ewan?" and at the end say at the exact same time with the exact same emphasis "Whew, that was fun!"

Beach path!

My favorite tree/flower so far, the wattle!

All kidding aside, I did finally manage to make it to and from the elusive beach path alone! I felt a great amount of self pride which quickly fizzled when I realized how easy my walks could have been previously if I hadn't been such a dofus. It's been a whole lot of cooking, eating, weeding, reading, music-ing, and wine-ing (for me). C+T took me "to town" which really means Adelaide, even though it's much more of a city than I've ever lived in. We walked the streets, had an amazing dinner at a chinese restaurant, and topped it all off with gelato.

Fun multicolored doors, Adelaide SA

Future site of Kiki's baking skills?

Wedges!

I've gotten fairly comfortable driving on the other side of the road, but the more comfortable I get here the more I miss my friends and family back home. Even though we can't talk on the phone every day or go grab a beer or lounge it out together, I think of all of you often and miss you tons. I have been keeping myself busy by trying to capture C+B in as many places as I can. At least for the next month we can certainly look forward to some excitement:
Mama countdown: 6 days!
First day of Oz Spring: 8 days!
Baby countdown: 24 days! (at least that's my bet)

Hurry up and come play with me!
Loves,
-Kiki.

Conquering the Wild Wild Wests

While C+T are off at work making the big bucks, I have been left to putter around the house. When I realized I was on track to finish A Game of Thrones in less than two weeks (seriously people, why have you not read this book yet?), and I was tired of washing dishes and staring at ceilings, I went out back and found my project.

The Wilderness, pre-Kiki attack

 

Years spent helping mom in her various flower beds and gardens back in Virginia did not prepare me for the mammoth weeds here in Oz. It is nice to walk away not covered in red clay but no lie, some reach well past my waist with roots that won't budge even when all my body weight is thrown into it. There are definitely more weeds to be pulled (don't worry Ma!) and after that a garden to be planted, but at least I've got it looking like a place where vegetables may want to grow in the future.

For Alanna, he's longer than my index finger!

I named him Clive.

You were probably wondering why on earth I would be staring at ceilings, well... Ever since I started telling people I would be visiting Australia for several months to aid C+T when their bundle of joy/spit/poop arrives, they would immediately say one of the following statements: "Wait, don't you think babies are aliens?" or "What about all the spiders!?"

As every bright scholar before me I turned to ... Google. There are two species of highly venomous spiders in Oz. The funnel-web spider, which hasn't had a recorded death since 1981 after the anti-venom was introduced, and the mouse spider, which are not heavily abundant in populated areas. According to the Australian Museum "where ever you live, you're always close to a spider." Gee, thanks guys. I now feel totally neurotic safe(?) All I can imagine is hoards of spiders slowly creeping up on me while I type this sentence. Which is why (along with my weed hacking abilities) I have taken to ceiling patrol. For some reason I remember a story from my childhood, where some ancestor was believed to actually hear spiders walking on ceilings. I believe I have been granted that genetic super power. So, as C+T roll their eyes from their places on the couch, my tally is now Kiki+Vacuum = 11, Spiders who dwell on our ceilings = 0.

Much love and happy hunting
-Kiki.

Oh Sookie...

Last night Cara and Toff both had to work at the Victory Hotel, a bar/restaurant with an amazing view of the ocean front, and I was left (cue Celion Dion) all by myself. Cara ran back inside after Toff had already started the car to remind me there are no open container laws here. After having successfully made it to and from the beach with the pups and with Cara I was confident I could find the path alone. So with a rum and coke in hand I headed out, just one problem, all the times I had made the trip we had gone completely different ways. After I had walked back and forth a couple of times, a feeling that I couldn't find the "room of requirement" began to invade me and I tucked tail, missing the incredible sunset. Sad face. This morning Cara was kind enough to pull up google maps and I was in fact standing almost in front of the entrance.

After my failed attempt at walking (sigh, can I blame this one on being blond? Thanks Ma) I planted myself on the couch, successfully made a fire in the potbelly stove, and curled up to watch the third season of Trueblood (Thanks Audrey!). Maybe I'll try the path again today, I can only fail so many times right? But for now...

Love and hugs and smoochies,
-Kiki.

Winter Day

The perfect Kiki soy coffee made by Cara

I have so far learned how to use Cara and Toff's cappuccino machine (although Cara uses it best, at least I can tolerate my coffee if left to my own devices), fixed Cara's car radio that was broken for several months, and have begun a massive backyard weed destruction one woman show for their garden. I have successfully completed two trips to the beach, one accompanied by Meg and Lila, and the other by Cara.

 

Cara even let me drive yesterday! It got a little scary towards the end (and I may have been banned from driving for the foreseeable future) but at least I have been her comical entertainment. Tonight I get to go to my first birthing class with Cara and Toff, which should be interesting, even if the kid tried and was successful in creeping me out this morning. I have all day to recuperate from Sigourney Weaver like images.
Finding a job isn't going to be as challenging as I anticipated before I left, the hard part now is deciding when I should start. I think if you give me another week I'll be bored enough from dish washing and weed hacking to start my life outside the bungalow.

Kisses!
-Kiki.

You Don't Even Know What The Half Is...

For some odd reason, I can't seem to get Folk Soul Revival out of my head, and wouldn't you know the Aussie's don't listen to bluegrass. Sigh. So in meshing my two worlds together, here is a little diddy for your day.

Current Status

I apologize that I am not an extreme blogger like someone else I know, so I will try and fill you in with as much detail as I can remember...

After 23 months I left my job and began moving my belongings to 4 different houses. The last week at work was filled with many tearful goodbyes and so much pot lucking and chicken wing-ing that I'm sure I will never find that many amazing women who love to eat in one place again. My last day at work I actually showed up an hour late, whoops, and as I was getting on the elevator couldn't imagine a time when I wouldn't be riding up to the 10th floor. I can't believe how much I've already learned and how much more there is to learn, thank you ladies for letting me be my "slightly off" self.  As for my belongings, I hope I will one day find all of you again.

I spent 5 amazing days in the hills of Floyd, Virginia enjoying bluegrass, rock, burlesque, and dragons. Some amazing performances by Trampled by Turtles, Uncle Mountain, Big Daddy Love, and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, just to name a few. The group I've gone camping with for my fourth straight FloydFest season are becoming more and more like family. And as we packed up our tents and dreamed of warm showers, it was always with a hug and a "see you same time next year."

FloydFest Dragon complete with rainbow booty

 I spent several days in Charlottesville and Bumpass rocking out with some great family and friends. Water skiing, boating, floating, and the occasional adult beverage until August 7th arrived and Dulles Airport awaited.

-"Did you leave a job behind in the States?"
-"...Well, I was unemployed and homeless when I left."

Cara and I at Brighton, first hour in Australia

So I made it, finally. After 30+ hours of traveling, 3 separate airports, at least 5 time zones, and 0 meltdowns, I arrived in Adelaide, Australia to be met by an extremely preggo Cara West. There were no real bumps in my traveling, I had no downtime in any of the airports and arrived intact with all my luggage, the only real downside was no time for duty free, sigh. Cara, Belly, and I went to lunch at Brighton Pier in a small cafe covered in Marilyn Monroe paraphernalia (and a light bulb went off as to why Cara enjoyed this particular cafe so much) right next to the ocean. She drove the long way home, down a winding road that followed the coast and cliffs and past their soon to be bakery location. By this point I had probably only slept a total of 5 hours since leaving the lake house in Virginia but I was ready to explore. Leaving Cara under blankets on the couch, I set off to find the ocean... only to take a wrong turn and end up wandering around their neighborhood for an hour. For those of you who have never been to Cara and Toffs house, it is literally two blocks from the ocean. I managed to maneuver across 2 continents and an ocean and I get lost in less than a mile radius from their house. I even stopped 5 different people, "Oh what type of accent is that, oh no wonder you're lost back here, yeah I don't even know where that street is." Maybe it's the Australian way, welcome to our country but good luck finding your way out!

I did find the Aldinga Senior Center with BINGO for all ages Wednesday and Fridays!

We ate dinner with Stephy, Toff's sister, and her boyfriend Mike, and Lila and Meg, golden retrievers, came to play too! So with a puppy in my lap and a slightly cold nose it's time to start looking for employment.

Love you all,