Aussie Artist: Boy and Bear

Before I shared with you Gotye, a Belgium Aussie artist. Now I give you the band, Boy and Bear...who I am totally loving right now! These guys are exactly the type of music that I could listen to for hours upon hours.

Boy and Bear - Rabbit Song

Don't you love the video too!?!?! I think these would be great Halloween costumes, the office warrior because you know business can be deadly and it is a war out there!

Stay tuned for more Aussie artists that I'm lovin'!

Wellington, NZ: Things to Do

If you ever find yourself in Wellington, New Zealand for a little period of time here are some things that you can do! The best part (almost) everything on the list is free...wwhhhooooooottttt!

1) Museum of Wellington City and Sea: This is a medium sized museum filled with history, photos, and artifacts about Wellington. A great museum to learn more about the city itself, how it was founded, how it evolved, etc. The Museum also had one of the best gift shops, great items that are reasonably priced!

2) Take a ride up the famous Wellington Cable Car.  From other websites I thought this was free, but it costs $3.50 a person. Dave and I were lucky enough to get free coupons from a Kiwi due to their being a Spring Festival! I'm not sure we would have paid the money, but you get a ride up a hill and are greeted with a spectacular view!

3) Stroll through the Botanic Gardens.  Once you get off the cable car and take in the view take a stroll through the botanic gardens at an easy decline. Their are different trails, trees, flowers, and views for you to take in. The main trail will take you about 40 mins. and lead you back to the city. 

4) Walk through the cemetery, where history meets present.  When strolling through the botanic garden continue your stroll to the city through the historical cemetery where graves date back hundred of years. 

5) Attend a Rugby Game.  Dave and I went to a game for the World Cup, we got good seats for only $40 each! Most The All Blacks games are played in Auckland, however you maybe able to catch a local club game. 

6) Walk along the Harbor.  The harbor is beautiful, with views of the distant rolling green hills and the different colors of green in the ocean water. It seems like everywhere you look is green! I could spend just all day walking along the harbor taking in the view, watching the people, and be happily content. 

7) Hike up Mt. Victoria for a 360 degree view of the city. Mt. Victoria is one of the many locations that Peter Jackson used when filming Lord of the Rings, however I do not know what scene it is in. The hike/climb up the hill is not that bad and the view of the city is a great reward. The trail can be kind of tricky to find, but if you get confused or lost just keep climbing up and you will get right on track!

8) Check out Te Papa Museum.  This is a great museum, where you learn about the culture, history, landscape, etc. of New Zealand. I was greatly impressed by the museum, especially since it was free! Dave and I learned and performed the Haka, saw a Colossal Squid, learned about animals, immigration, and much more! This is a definitely must see and do when in Wellington, make sure you give yourself at least 3hrs. to see it all!

9) Take in some political lessons at Parliament.  Wellington is the capital of New Zealand, take advantage of this by visiting the Parliament buildings and learning more about the politics of the country. 

10) Relax and Just Have Fun! You can shop at many cute stores, grab a drink at a local pub, read in the park, take in the view, and have great conversations with the locals. The most important thing to do is  take in the moment and not worry about anything else, because you need to cherish the moment so you can remember it always!

Kiwis are super duper nice!
Even their busses apologize for not being in service!

FTF: Five Things Friday

Happy Friday! It's another Friday which means you get to learn another 5 things about yours truly!

1) The only family vacation my family took was the summer before I started kindergarden. We borrowed a motor van and drove through North and South Dakota. I remember going to the Corn Palace, seeing bears and Bear Country, riding a tortoise at the Reptile Garden, and driving through the Black Hills. It was a great family vacation and one that I will probably do with my future children.

2)  My favorite photographer in the whole wide world is Ansel Adams. His pictures of nature are breathe taking and grab you. He was an amazing, talented photographer. If I had just the talent he held in his pinky finger I would consider myself to be a lucky lady.

3) I L-O-V-E the smell of freshly mowed/cut grass. Plus I even love cutting the grass to get that smell.

4) In high school I played basketball and softball. Basketball was okay, but softball was where my heart was. I played first base and truly loved it, I was pretty good on the field but I kind of stunk at hitting. I wanted to play in college, but I graduated high school early and left the dream of playing in college on the field.

5) One day, hopefully within the next year, Dave and I will own a bulldog (hopefully English) and their name will be Winston. We have been waiting and thinking about this dog for over a year now and I can't wait until we find one. It will be a little harder because we plan on rescuing one instead of getting it from a breeder, when looking at the website our hearts break a little for the bulldogs with no homes.

10 more lessons learned....

I can't believe that another month has passed. At this moment it has been 2 months and 4 hours since Dave and I arrived in Newcastle. This is just plain crazy to me, the last month has just flown by. This must be due to Dave and I finally getting into a rhythm, finding a job, and starting to truly live like real citizens here in Australia.  This last month was great with lots of firsts, adventures, and soul searching.

Here are ten things I learned this past month...

1) I spend more time in the future than I do in the present.  I realized that I spend a lot of time thinking about what Dave and I will do in the future; where will we live, how will I decorate it, how fun it will be to finally be close to our friends, what will our next adventure be, so on and so on. I spend so much time in the future that I take the present for granted. Living in the moment and taking this adventure day by day is going to be the best way to experience it and remember it so I can tell this amazing story to our future children. 

2) My goodness do I miss the ability to have a GOOOOD burger when ever the mood strikes me.  Dave and I don't really eat red meat, just once in awhile and usually in burger form. Sometimes I just get a craving and I need a good burger to sink my teeth in (my mouth is kind of drooling right now). Australia does not have good burgers, heck all their red meat kind of stinks. For some reason they think they should put little onions or onion flavor in EVERYTHING, leaving the flavor to be much desired.  I know that when Dave and I land in Minnesota one of the first meals will be a burger and fries...ooohhhhh I can't wait!

3) Dave and I are able to laugh at ourselves in almost all situations.  This month had it's handful of situations that were pretty embarrassing, but both of us were able to laugh at each other. One such situation took place on a whale watching boat. The waves were HUGE that day, tossing our little boat here and there. One woman was very sea sick and Dave and I sat by her for about one minute before she started a little Shoave chain reaction. This reaction ends with Dave and I both at the side of the deck with vomit not only on the boat but also on us and with both of us bursting out in loud laughter. We could have been pissed, embarrassed, wanting to cry, but we just laughed because we were both in a horrible situation that we did not think would ever occur. Plus we didn't see any whales, so that makes it twice as sad. 

4) In America we take many thing for granter, I like that different situations remind me of that.  A simple thing that reminded me of this was not having many options in Newcastle for items. In America we have TOOOONNNSSSS of choices for almost everything we need (and don't need). Dave and I talk about all the variety that is in the states and how we kind of wish we had it here. But I also love that they don't really have chain restaurants and huge stores, a lot of places are locally run and owned. This is just one small thing that we take for granted as Americans, or it just may be me!

5) New Zealand has a departure fee.  Dave and I were not aware of this when we were trying to leave the country and it was a horrible shock to our systems. We have paid departure fees before but they were in third world country where you understand why you may have to pay since the country is poor and its a way to get revenue. I don't know if New Zealand is a poor country but I do know that they are not a third world country, thus I feel it is silly that they have a departure fee. How much is the fee you ask? It is $25/person....eeeeeeecccckkkkkk. But now you are warned and told in advance so you will not have the sticker shock as we did. Literally you pay the fee and they put a sticker on your ticket so you can get to security. 

6) I LOOOVVEE working in student affairs and miss it greatly! I miss being on a college campus, meeting with students, working with a great professional staff team, and helping develop others. There is an energy on a college campus that I don't think you can find anywhere else, it is a constant buzz from everyones personal energy colliding. I miss the feeling of this energy, I may be going through withdrawl from it. It was tough seeing everyones facebooks status about school starting up again and being here and not apart of the excitement. 

7) Nanado's is international and still delicious. Nando's is one of Dave and I's favorite restaurants in D.C.. They serve Portuguese chicken in a variety of sauces from lemon herb to HOOOTTT and their sides are da bomb!!! The best thing is they are really cheap, you could get a meal for 4 people for like $27! We found a Nanado's in Wellington, New Zealand and just had to eat there for dinner. It was a great meal that reminded us a little bit of home in a far away place. 

8) Figuring out what you want in life is a lot harder than it sounds. You may think that this is easy and everyone knows what they want. Nope, not true. If you are real and honest with yourself this is a task that can take days. You deal with different emotions and you question a lot of things. It's a hard task to finally think about what you want from life, write it down, and then figure out how to achieve it. It is hard but it is very rewarding and something that we all should do. 

9) I have an addiction to reading.  And this is in no means a problem, I LOVE it! Since being here I have read nine books, have 5 books waiting for me to read, and I got a job at a bookstore. The books are only priced $10 and I get a 35% discount, I'm pretty sure I will be getting plenty of more books to feed my addiction. I also have joined a book club, we have our first meeting next week where we will be discussing Michael J. Fox's "Lucky Man". I'm excited to meet other book lovers!!

10) Dave is my protector, from the little and big things.  I love this about him, he just loves me soooo much. I truly am such a lucky girl, and I hope all girls get to be loved the way I am loved by Dave. In New Zealand on a rainy day I accidentally slipped and slid down a muddy hill, twice. After the first slip and slide he was terrified that I was going to hurt myself. He blocked my way and tried me to go around him...I didn't do that and I slid down the hill again. He then yelled at me to get over on the grass because he was NOT going to let me die on that hill. When we finally made it down I had mud everywhere, my front legs were covered, my back, my arms...I was a mess. We had to walk through the city and some people pointed and laughed at me, they didn't try to hide it at all. I didn't mind because hey it is funny. But Dave, bless his heart, would get furious at these people for laughing at me. I loved him for it, it's nice knowing someone will protect you from physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental abuse. 

What things have you learned this month?

I can't wait to see what will happen this next month

and what little lessons I will learn.

October Mixed Tape

I listened to the September Playlist on repeat throughout the whole month of September, it was relaxing and just what I needed. It provided the perfect soundtrack to figure out what I wanted from life and nights reading on the couch. This month I'm taking a turn and pumping up the jam (did I really just say that?).  This month I will use the mixed tape to give me the energy and reminder to keep active, maybe by dancing. 

1. Rock Party Anthem - LMAFO
2. Young Blood - The Naked and Famous
3. Sleepyhead - Passion Pit
4. Journey to the End of Easy Bay - Rancid
5. Crushcrushcrush - Paramore
6. Bad Kids - Lady Gaga
7. Australia - Science for Girls
8. Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? - She & Him
9. Lover I Don't Have to Love - Bright Eyes
10. Super Bass - Nicki Minaj
11. Ruby Soho - Rancid
12. Sing - My Chemical Romance
13. Studying Politics - Emery
14. Kiss with a Fist - Florence + The Machine
15. Thiller/ Heads Will Roll - GLEE cast
16. Blow - Ke$ha
17. Big Girl (You are Beautiful) - Mika
18. Blankest Year - Nada Surf
19. My Body - Young the Giant

#1: Get Healthy...

Recently I shared my list of What I Want...Personal and that I was going to work on a few things from this list.  With every item on my What I Want List I have a counterpart on my How I Will Achieve List.

The first thing I want to Achieve is: Get Healthy and Feel Comfortable with My Body.  This will help achieve the points - Dress the way I want to, Feel comfortable with my body, and Get Healthy. These are all big things for me and things that I feel will help guide the rest of my journey.

How do I plan on achieving this:

• Create Exercise Plan: get active at least 30 min., 5 days a week
• Keep Daily Log of Food: no lying, cheating, nothing but complete honesty
• Begin lowering my pop intake and increasing my water intake.
• Cook one new healthy meal a week: making it fun and educational
• Create list (Top 10) reasons why I want to be healthy
• Keep Body Journal: each week (or day) write something positive about my body
• Create small list of rewards for goal met

Getting healthy is something I struggle with, I do it and then fall back to my old ways again when times get tough. Its been over a year since I would say I was healthy, I was the healthiest around May 2010. I loved the way I felt, I want that back sooo bad. So now, I am off to get that feeling back again, where I love shopping for clothes, and most importantly whenI feel like I can do it all.

So I ask a favor from you, will you help keep me accountable? 

I know I need it to be a successful, 

so this is me reaching out to you to help me make it possible. 

This week I barely took any photos, the camera rarely left it's case. So I thought I would share a few photos  that found and am in love with on Etsy. Hope you enjoy!

VW Beach Wagon

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Mama and Baby

Deer Photo Fawn Brown

Wish Upon a Dandelion

Vegas Farmers Market

Peaceful Dock-New Zealand