Where did September go???

I CANNOT believe that it's going to be October next week. Seriously, it feels like Alison and Rob were just here. To be honest, it feels like Bryan was just here, and that was 2 months ago. CRAZY!

Spring has arrived in Brisbane! The sun is out. It's warming up and the skirts and tank tops are seeing the light of day! :) It's weird huh? I was just reading Holly's blog and she was beautifully describing the essence of Fall.... and it made me jealous. But then I saw the weather forecast for SoCal for the week.... 100??? And then I didn't feel so jealous anymore. :) Just don't be asking me how things are going in Brisbane in late November/early December when the humidity skyrockets and we're pushing the high 30s (celsius).

It is currently 1am (and now Mom is shaking her head at her computer). I worked tonight and drank a little too much caffeine, so I'm waiting for it to wear off. Still not tired though. Might have to force myself to sleep soon. :)

The girls (my honorary Australian bridesmaids - Sharon, Esther and Sally) and I went to try on some more wedding dresses today!!! :) It was soooo much fun. I can't wait to come home and try on dresses that I'll actually be able to think about buying!! And to do it with my US bridesmaids!!! The browsing outing didn't really do me much good though. If anything it only further confused me as far as what I'm hoping for in "the" dress. I tried on 10 dresses today, two of which I reeeeally loved. The only problem was that the two that I reeeeally loved were... well... they were reeeeally different. Nothing in common what-so-ever actually. So how do I choose?? How do I know what I want? When what I think I want one minute is something completely different than what I think I want the next minute?? (Are you confused yet? Because I most certainly am.) So... the search continues.

More in Andie's Australian news:

I was walking through Big-W last week. What's Big-W? Well... think Walmart... they're EXACTLY the same. Anyways... walking through Big-W/Walmart when I stumbled upon a newly altered aisle...



So Christmas is on it's way!!! :)

No other real news.
No real progress on the paper. :(
The pressure's starting to take its toll though.

There's a light at the end of the tunnel that's called home... in 2 and a half months. But there's this huge rock wall blocking the way that's called my paper.

Can't go over it. Can't go under it. Oh no! I've got to go through it!


I think I should go to bed now....

:)

love you all!!

100 More Days!!!

Can you believe that I have only 100 more days until I will be back in the States?! I can't. Where in the world did this year go??? I have 8 more weeks of Uni left and then Mom and Dad come out the visit. And then it's one more month, graduation and off I go. CRAZY!

I still have A TON of work left to do though. I sat down tonight and started working on my gigantic paper again, and it's starting to really stress me out. It just seems soooo big, so all over the place, and I don't know how I'm going to fill up all the pages...... cohesively.

My mind is so switched to "Senioritis" mode and needs to get back to studying and focus hard for 56 more days (wow... that's not that long).

So 100 more days. :)
With so much to do.
But I'm ready for home.



PS... here's a little extra footage from when Alison and Rob were here. :)

Riverfire Weekend!!

Most of you should remember Riverfire from last year's blog and video.

Well, apparently it made such an impression on Alison that she wanted to come and visit just to see it! And who am I to pass up an opportunity to have visitors!!! So Friday morning I went to the train station to pick her up. I saw her step off the train with video camera in hand. Hamming it up for the camera, I skipped, clapped and smiled toward her. For a second my eyes wandered behind her and there, standing as tall as ever, was Rob!!!!!! I screamed, "Holy crap!", dropped my purse and ran. The family decided it would be fun to surprise me with not only Alison visiting, but Rob as well!!! It was an awesome surprise! I wish I had the video to share with you, but we unfortunately didn't have the appropriate cable to transfer the video to my computer. But we did take pictures... lots and lots of pictures.

Their trip was only a total of 4 days, so we had to cram a lot of stuff into as little time as possible.

Friday was basically recovering from the flight, taking naps, eating and going seeing 'Tropic Thunder' in Gold Class (gotta love those reclining chairs).

Saturday we were off to the city to take in some sights. We started with a big breakfast at the Pancake Cafe, followed it up with a walk through the Queen Street Mall - where Rob was able to take his picture with a Koala as everyone before him did. Unfortunately we were unable to go to Lone Pine in our short time.... so... well.... at least he got a picture! We continued by taking a ride on the City Cat to South Bank. The plan was to walk around South Bank for awhile and then find a seat for Riverfire. However, we quickly realized that we had to get our seat as soon as possible. So we landed ashore and found a prime spot on the river. Three hours and six more people later, Riverfire began!!! It was great! Alison and Rob said that it was the best part of the trip! :)

That night, after grabbing some dinner, we headed Eastward to Alanah's house in Wynnum to spend the night. It was a GORGEOUS house on the bay. And it was nice for Alison and Rob to sleep in real beds. :)

Sunday morning we drove down to Manly to eat some breakfast before our excursion Southward to the Gold Coast. The rest of the day was laying on the beach, watching kite surfers, walking around the Esplanade of Surfers Paradise. eating dinner at Hogs Breath, and hanging out in our beautiful, ocean-view hotel room. :)

Monday morning we grabbed a coffee and a bite to eat at the nearby Zaraffas (delicious), and then began our trip to Byron Bay. The morning started off cloudy, but as the day progressed it tured out to be quite lovely. We first went up the hill to the Lighthouse, where we spotted a few whales, a pod of dolphins and even a stingray from a distance. We then wandered down to the beach where we played around with sand crabs and I desperately tried to get on the live webview of the coast so mom, who I was talking to on the phone, could see us. But we never could figure it out. :( After some lunch, gelato and a little CD shopping, we were on our way back to Brisbane.

That night we went to the Belgian Beer Cafe and met up with a friend from Vanguard, James, to have a night of good beer and good conversation.

Tuesday morning we were up bright at early to pack and be on our way to the train station.... where Alison and Rob got back on a train to the airport. :(

Such a quick trip!!!!!
But soooooo much fun.

Here's a slideshow of all the pictures we took over the weekend.
Don't blink, cause it goes quick... just a taste of how the weekend was: chaotic, jammed pack, but fun.



Who's next??? :)