One hot Chrissy and a sweaty New Year!

Hey there folks!

Here I am, sitting in the heat of 2012 and drinking many litres of water per day to stay hydrated. How is it already January 11th? Where the heck did my first week of 2012 and time to ponder different goals for the new year go?! Well, let's backtrack a little since it's been a while since my last confession...I mean, blog post.

December: a whirlwind of stretchy pants and moisture wicking materials, a dash of Christmas cheer, a large handful of chocolate and a few tears for home and the family. It was a pretty emotional month for me as it was the first ever Christmas that I didn't spend with my family. The holiday season kicked off with an au pair get-together/Christmas party at "The Shed", a open air bar/club in Northbridge. I hung out with two fellow Canadians: Asha, a Kingston gal and Queens graduate and Anh-Maude from Montreal (oh yes, we spoke French!). We all enjoyed some Aussie chips (read: thick cut fries) and had a glass of champagne to toast all the au pairs for Christmas. Here are a few highlight photos:

Asha, Anh-Maude, Me

Pretty cute...

Not quite the best...

Best one

The boys playing with their electric candle

Sue, myself and the two older boys went into the city for "Carols by Candlelight" which happens every year as a fundraiser. That's one thing I've really noticed here in Perth...everything in Christian. Back in Canada retailers and businesses are very wary of selecting a religious holiday to specify with and all seasonal decorations are (for the most part) non-denominational and say stuff like "Happy Holidays". Perth is all up in the Christmas/Christian way and there is no subtlety about it.

Pretty cute, eh?

Either way, we went to sing carols in the park with thousands of other families and stayed all the way to the end so we could see the fireworks!

Captured!

I can't remember if it was the same night, but it twas a night close to Christmas and all the boys were sleeping as the women wrapped gifts. Not a creature was stirring except for a HUGE Huntsman Spider!
Seriously, my photos don't do it justice. Check out these. Gross!!! Needless to say, I let Sue deal with that one...she let it loose in the yard.

UGH!!

I've been told (to my horror) that Huntsman spiders are actually quite common and that one was not actually that big. I'll be keeping Canadian house spiders as pets at this rate.

Just a little bit gross

My Christmas Eve brought about longing for home, snow, wine, Christmas cartoons, wrapping gifts, chocolate and sitting by the fire with my family in Ottawa. The thought of trudging through the snow with Rachel at my side on the way to Quinn's for a beer also brought some tears to my eyes...I miss Ottawa! Luckily for me, I have a friend in Asha, a fellow Canadian who understands the need for companionship and snow. We hung out together on the eve of Christmas and made some very lovely cookies for our host families. Obviously photographic evidence was needed as they were delicious and enjoyed very quickly that evening and the next day!

One had to be taste tested of course

Christmas Day came all too early and I had two young boys jumping on me at 6:30am. It makes me think back to the days when I was their age and I would wake up that early...sorry, mom! Presents were fun and my host family got me an awesome gift - a gift certificate for an "experience" with a whole bunch to choose from (swimming with dolphins, sea kayaking, kite surfing lessons, etc). Awesome.

I got Gavin a top from work to replace one of his t-shirts I'm surprised makes it out of the washing machine intact. Sue got a goals book from my favourite stationary store, kikki k and I got the boys matching button up shirts! They looked really sweet together and they wore them that day to the family Christmas lunch at Gavin's relatives place. After all the presents were opened and wrapping paper cleaned up, I hit the hay for another 3 hours!

We spent the rest of the day at the Christmas lunch which was fantastic. It was like someone had taken Christmas and transplanted it onto Canada Day. It was hot, sunny, there was an abundance of alcohol and delicious food (some of which prepared on the BBQ). There was also a trampoline which made for some excellent play time.

Gavin and I at Christmas lunch

Adam and I on the trampoline!

One of Gavin's nephew's rocking an awesome Christmas cracker present

The "big" kids (aka the 4 young adults aged 16-21) went to the beach for a swim in the ocean. Yup, I swam in the ocean on Christmas day. Strange... In the evening I sent my sisters text messages to wake them up for Christmas morning in Canada so I could skype with the family. Of course, the sight of all of them and the Christmas lights in the window did bring about the sobs, but these were quickly remedied with love and updates from my wonderful family. We also took a pretty great Christmas photo together (myself on the computer screen) which I will have to post once my little sister gets around to sending it to me... hear that, April?

So, between Christmas and New Years just consider my life one big blur of stretchy clothes. My whole host family went to Adalaide to visit my host mum's family and I was left alone in Perth for a week! I worked something like 39 hours that week so I didn't actually get to enjoy it too much, but hey...some peace and quiet! If I did have a spare few minutes I was reading. I have a goal to read 20 books over my time in Australia. Only 16 more to go!

New Years Eve I decided to stay in on my own. Unusual because I'm one for having a glass of bubbly with friends, but I didn't feel like spending a bunch of cash on a night on the town. So, instead I cuddled up to the couch with a glass of wine and a couple episodes of Mad Men and did a few Skype sessions. Thank you Andrew, Rachel and Dad for keeping me company!

New Years Day I spent the day with Hannah at the beach! Good way to ring in the new year, huh? We played in the waves (and got rocked by a few big ones) then went to get some pizza to finish the day off. We got rocked so hard I had sand everywhere and even after two showers I could still scratch my head and get some sand granules. Good times!

I'm so lucky to have made a friend in Hannah as not only is she Canadian, but she is a music lover as well. We made plans to go to the Southbound Music Festival together in Busselton for a whole weekend of good times.

The festival itself is really, really cool. It's a music, camping and arts festival. There are some serious headliners that come every year and a TON of people camp out on the grounds for the weekend (If I ever go back, it's happening. I'm looking at you, Rachel). There were stalls that sold jewlery and clothing, you could rent hilarious costumes, get your face painted, and get all kinds of delicious food.

On one edge of the MASSIVE campground

It was also a really interesting place to watch people. Hannah and I spent a lot of time just chilling on the grass, listening to some wickedly good tunes and people watching. Imagine thousands of people aged 18-25, drinking lots, in the sunshine, with a tent close by at a festival full of good music. Yeah, exactly.

Hannah and I had the privilege of staying with Paul and Diane, with whom I stayed last time I visited Busselton. I cannot express my gratitude to these two enough; they are just incredible people! They lived quite close to the venue and encouraged us to come back and visit again soon. How could I say no?!

Hannah and I, day one

An art piece created by collecting recycling around the venue. 99.9% beer or cider cans

End of day two.

Now, I don't want to brag, but I did see some sweet bands play. I'm putting a list here because there were some bands I'd never heard of that were pretty great so you should hit up YouTube and check 'em out.

Day 1
Josh Pyke (Good tunes!)
Kimbra (Not well known in North America, but huge here)
Beirut (Incredible, just incredible!)
The Naked and Famous
Grouplove
Dub FX
The Jim Jones Revue (I caught the lead guitarist's pick when he chucked it out in the crowd after their last song! A guy behind me must have been a super fan because he paid me twenty bucks for it. Worth 3 beers!)
Young MC (YES. YOU BET. He did Bust A Move. It was awesome!)
The Grates
DJ Yoda
Crystal Castles (I'm told that they sound pretty fantastic live if you're on drugs. I wasn't.)
-- Instead I should have seen Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs that were playing at the same time, bummer!!
Arctic Monkeys (AMAZING. Enough said.)

Day 2
The Vines
Tim Finn
Missy Higgins (Look her up, she's wicked!)
The Jezebels
Fleet Foxes

Sunday was a pretty hilarious day for people watching. It was really, really mellow as I'm sure everyone was recovering from a huge and messy Saturday night. Regrettably, we didn't stick around for The Kooks and John Butler Trio because we had to drive back to Perth that night as we both worked Monday morning. Some seriously funny moments and I also accidently/sort of on purpose ended up with a new pair of sunglasses on Saturday night. But, all in all, a great weekend!

End of Day 2: listening to Fleet Foxes

Hope you're coping with the cold if you're reading from Canada-land. I'm feeling pretty homesick lately so if you ever want to Skype with your dear old friend Megan, just let me know!

With love,
Megan