Giddyup!

On my third day living on the Gold Coast, I’m happy to report that the sun continued to shine and the skies continued to be clear and blue. This may not sound like a big deal, but I’ve been told that it has been raining and nasty here for most of the last month, so this is a welcome change. I can neither confirm nor deny that it is due to my arrival, but sure gives you some food for thought, doesn’t it?

One of the added bonuses of the great weather is that Magic Millions, the annual horse racing event on the Gold Coast, was well attended, including by yours truly. One of Kevin’s friends from Brisbane came down, was able to score media passes for us through his legendary connection, Wayno, and the rest is history. We mingled, drank, people watched and placed a few bets throughout a very enjoyable day at the races. I actually placed just one bet - on a horse aptly named ‘Combat Kitty’ - and she ended up finishing second! My bet had been small, but I nearly tripled my money. Not a bad return, and I chose to quit while I was ahead.

Dan and Filo reading up on the odds

After the races with Julie and Kiersten (in my best mime makeup apparently)

After the conclusion of the races, we split with the guys in our group and had an enjoyable ladies’ sushi dinner on Chevron Island. We were eventually reunited with Kevin, Liam and Dan, and below are few shots from our table...please take note of Dan on the end taking pictures of the photographer. Classic.

Magic Millions group shot

Get in there, Kevin

This time with everyone!

A Minor Misstep

Correct me if I’m mistaken, but I think there is a poem that talks something about following footsteps in the sand. What the poem neglects to mention is that while following these damn footsteps, you should carefully watch where you're going, because sometimes random sticks/stumps/hazards are sticking out of the sand and if you are as graceful as I am, you will inevitably kick them. As a friendly warning, keep a special eye out for SoDs (sticks of death) when you are strolling the beaches Down Under.

Thought briefly that this might be my last snapshot ever...

You probably think that I’m being dramatic, don’t you? Well, you would be right. But it hurt like hell and that, mixed with slight dehydration after walking for two hours and mild disorientation, sent me into a bit of a tizzy. As I hobbled up the path from the beach to the road, I felt as though I was the star of an episode of ‘I Shouldn’t Be Alive.’ In my head, I saw myself getting on my hands and knees, sunburned and dehydrated, crawling through the burning sand to safety, where my toe would eventually be wrought with gang green and fall off. Someday I would be found alone in the park, surrounded by dingoes sniffing at my dead body. In reality, I made my way to a bench where I sat down and temporarily felt sorry for myself, riddled with thoughts like ‘Great. Now what shoes am I supposed to wear when we go out tonight?’

I’m happy to report that after cleaning up and surveying the damage to the toe from the SoD, it is fairly minor. More importantly, it hasn’t deterred me from returning to the gorgeous beach, exploring my new home town or drinking beer with friends. All good!

On a brighter note, I managed to capture some nice images on my walk before things took the downhill turn. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Very short building (obviously named after Ryan Seacrest)

View of Surfer’s Paradise

A look toward the Spit

Nothing But Blue Skies From Now On

Here goes: Australia, take three. My first trip here was about vacation, exploration and new experiences. My second was a slice of life Down Under. This time, it’s all on me to make this the most exciting, adventurous and memorable year of my life!

To bring you up to speed, I decided shortly after I returned from my trip in August that I wanted to find a way to move here as soon as possible. What drove that decision, you ask? I think it was the fact that I simply didn’t want to leave at the end of my trip. And it wasn’t because I had a stressful job I had to go back to or I lacked friends or a good social life in Austin. Quite the opposite, really. I had a world of opportunity as far as my next career move, a beautiful house, amazing friends and family and the cutest little dog in the world all waiting to welcome me back. But, there was a nagging voice in the back of my head telling me that I had to find a way to move to Australia, and this was the time in my life to do it. It felt like a now or never situation, so I chose now!

January 11 arrived quickly, and I packed my bags, said a very tearful goodbye to my family, friends and Bailey, and hopped a plane to Brisbane. My timing, as always, was impeccable. If you’ve been following the world news, you know that Queensland has suffered some catastrophic flooding, and Brisbane got the brunt of it at about the exact time that I arrived there. The city seems to be completely crippled, and people are still digging out of it and trying to salvage what they can from their flooded homes. It’s very troubling to see, but I have to say that I got lucky and had no issue getting from the Brisbane airport to my new home on the Gold Coast. Power outages kept the train from running, but I got on a bus as a back-up and arrived in Main Beach without incident.

So here I am! I live less than a block from the beach, walking distance to shops, restaurants and bars and have had a chance to catch up with fun friends down here. I can already tell it’s going to be an amazing year, as soon as I figure out how I’m going to support myself, that is. I swear, the job search starts tomorrow :)

A view of my building from the beach

Look Who's Back

Forgive me for the lapse on this blog. Between the holidays, some minor medical setbacks, and preparing to move abroad, I’ve been pre-occupied to say the least! If you are following my adventures on this blog, you most likely already know that I have made the move to Australia, am nearly one week in to my adventure, and life is good. More on all of that to come...

Let me quickly fill in the gaps for you. In November, I turned the big 3-0, and celebrated by throwing myself a boat party in Austin. My attitude is that if you don’t celebrate yourself, who else is going to do it for you? So, I assembled a crew of fun friends and we hit the waters of Lake Austin, decked out in our finest Florida themed attire. Being a Florida native, I’ve been teased by my friends in Austin for the last eight-ish years. And rightfully so...Florida is the birthplace of most of the ridiculous news stories you hear in the US. I challenge you to start paying attention to the most insane stories you read on cnn.com or any news site, and odds are 95% of them originated in the Sunshine State. From people smuggling monkeys on airlines in their ponytails, to people forcing their grandmothers to smoke crack, Florida continues to outdo itself. So, with this in mind, I asked everyone to dress as their interpretation of Florida, and I was NOT disappointed.

After the birthday festivities, it was just a short time until my family flew in for Thanksgiving at my place. This was a real treat as I am usually the one who travels for all holidays, but I was able to leverage my impending move to get them out to Austin. We ate, drank, went to the zoo, watched football and celebrated for five great days!

I then traveled to Florida for Christmas, where I got a chance to catch up with friends and family for just under two weeks. It was relaxing and very enjoyable. Of course, a major highlight was spending time with my niece, who is turning into a very entertaining and enjoyable little lady. By the time I see her again, I swear she’ll be driving! Oh wait, from the looks of things, she already is...

My last two weeks in Austin were jam packed with packing my house, moving everything into storage, organizing all of the details for my move overseas and saying too many goodbyes. My friends put together a going away gathering for me, and we were joined by our good friend Roger Clemens. But more importantly, everyone came out to say goodbye (for now) and wish me luck, and it was a very special night. Why am I leaving these great friends again??

So farewell temporarily to Austin...I’ll see you soon and hope everyone remembers and keeps a spot warm for me there!

30 Is the New...30!

I think I'll take a moment, celebrate my age
The ending of an era and the turning of a page
Now it's time to focus in on where I go from here
Lord have mercy on my next thirty years

In my next thirty years I'm gonna have some fun
Try to forget about all the crazy things I've done
Maybe now I've conquered all my adolescent fears
And I'll do it better in my next thirty years*

I just turned thirty, and I couldn't be happier about what I've accomplished to this point or more excited about what is ahead of me!

Among the achievements I am most proud of in these first three decades are:

Graduating from the University of Florida
Taking a chance and moving to Austin on my own
Earning a Masters degree from the University of Texas
Buying a house
Working for the Lance Armstrong Foundation
Running the New York City Marathon
Raising thousands of dollars for charity
Being a loyal friend
Being a loving daughter, sister, and aunt (and mother to Bailey!)
Enjoying life to the fullest

Watch out world, this girl is just getting started!



*Please note that I left out the part of the song that mentions drinking 'not so many beers' as I refuse to make any guarantees in that department.

How to Entertain Yourself In the Sunshine State

Last week I took an impromptu trip to Orlando to visit with family and friends. I followed that up immediately with a long-planned trip to Jacksonville for the Florida/Georgia football game, which I hadn't been to in five years. That's a lot of Florida in one week, but I dare say I kept myself well entertained. Here are some sure fire ways to enjoy yourself the next time you are in the Sunshine State:

Play with your niece in a pumpkin patch







Celebrate a milestone birthday with your fabulous family







Drink beer from the mouth of a rubber alligator



Taunt Georgia fans





Tailgate!





Beat your rival in overtime

Learning to Let Go

I've never considered myself a Type A personality, but I'm finding lately that I don't do well with things that are completely out of my control. Surely I'm not the only one out there that feels this way, but the problem is amplified because I'm depending heavily on something outside of my control right now. I need to sell my house to make my goal of moving overseas a reality, but as hard as we're working to find a buyer, we still don't have a deal. I know - the economy sucks, the market is over-saturated with sellers, my master bedroom is on the second floor, old people don't like stairs, blah blah. I'm trying so hard to be patient, but this affects such a major part of my life at the moment that I am completely stressing out! I literally feel like I'm ready to jump into a beautiful body of water (the Pacific Ocean, perhaps?) and swim to a very happy place, but I'm unfortunately wearing a pair of cement shoes. Wow, that was deep, huh?

I guess I need to take a deep breath and try to enjoy the uncertainty and all that might bring. Plus, being 'stuck' in Austin, TX while things pan out isn't exactly a death sentence, is it? Case in point, while there was an open house today at my place, Bailey and I snuck out and enjoyed a couple of hours at beautiful Zilker Park in downtown Austin. And it was a magnificent day!



Self portrait



The house issue is also helping me to recognize other areas of my life that I need to try to let go of control over. Relationships with others, for instance. It feels like I've spent a lifetime trying to get people to feel a certain way about me... and let me tell you, I'm exhausted! I think I'll just sit back, relax and see what comes my way. Or at least line up that spot at the convent...

So if you need me in the near future, I'll be over here learning to let go. And hoping that things will work themselves out the way they are supposed to!