Just a little quote...

‎'When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us'

I think this applies to all of us somehow at some point in our lives whether the door is large or small. I hope that we all look forward and open the new door for ourselves rather then stand and stare at the old one. We all deserve happiness for ourselves and sometimes it may be hard to open that new door leaving the old behind, but you deserve all the happiness life may bring, so take that first step. You will always have your memories :)

Thinking of a few people in my life xxx

Saltimbanco

Absolutely amazing show!! It's crazy what you can train a human body to do! If you haven't ever seen one of their shows before I definitely recommend to go!

Dan and I went out for a nice dinner before hand in St. Kilda and then off to the show. They had a mime who was absolutely hilarious, had me in stitches. And some amazing drummers, similar to chinese drummers but cirque du soleil style. It was a great night out that's for sure! Not too much new this week, just enjoying a nice relaxing weekend and some beautiful weather. Not super warm, but nice to see the sun shining. Thinking of you all as always. xxx until next time :)

Quick update...

Start piano lessons next week! Exciting!! Hope to get right back into it and work towards me teaching beginners! :) Looking forward to it!

And I don't know why anyone ever makes an appointment with a doctor?! They're always late!! Just had to add that it in. I'm slightly annoyed that I always show up on time for my appointments and then end up sitting there for a ridiculous amount of time! Oh well, I'll get over it eventually :P haha. xxx

Congratulations Danielle & Dave!!

CONGRATULATIONS DANIELLE AND DAVE ON YOUR NEW ADDITION!!!

Hannah Noelle Whitmore, 9lb 9oz.

We are so happy for you both.

xxx

Picture Update...More to come at a later date....

Melbourne Zoo, baby elephant, SO cute!!

Birthday boy with my camera. Thank goodness it's shock proof, water proof, shatter proof and most of all kid proof! :P hehe.

MUUUUMMMM!!! I'm stuck!

Luxury Camping at it's best! What a spoiled pooch! :)

He just fits! Did we get everything?? On the way to go camping :)

Kid's enjoying the zoo, birthday boy in the back.

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree....

Chillin' round the fire.

Don't cry Rel....

Vrroom vroom vroom

Good ol' game of frisbee....

Four!!

I got it I got it!!

Finally have internet! :)

Well hello strangers!!

We finally have normal, reliable, fast internet!!! WOOHOOOO! :D As you may have noticed, I dropped off the radar for a bit due to not having proper internet, but we finally got hooked up and I can finally catch all of you up!

Dan and I are still really enjoying our own place. It's a work in progress and loving it! :) I still owe you some pictures of the place, don't worry, they're coming...

Dan’s work is going well. He still seems to be really enjoying it, which is a good thing! I’m back in Frankston as a customer service representative again. I stepped down from the manager position I was in, in Cranbourne about a month ago as I was finding it to be way too much pressure/stress. I can do without that! So plodding along at the job. It's a job basically, that pays the bills, let's just say I'm keeping my options open right about now...I'll keep you all posted on that one.

Easter weekend was fun! We (Dan and his family) went camping for five days near a place called Jameson. The place we camped in is called Snake’s Reserve, but no, no snakes thank goodness! Just nasty little ants that like to bite me and then I blister up like a balloon. Thankfully for a father in-law with field med experience and nurse Paul brother in-law I survived. Haha. We did a whole lot of nothing really. The reserve is right on a lake, but we couldn’t really enjoy the water, as it was a bit too cold. Dan’s niece and her girlfriend did take the blow up boat down the river, which was fun to watch. Brrrrr! We all took a drive into Jameson Easter Day and took a gander round which was nice too. Then had a lovely campfire cooked Easter roast dinner, yum yum! And I didn’t have to do anything, which was the best part! All in all a really nice, relaxing and fun long weekend :)

Dan and I took in a rugby game the other weekend. What a great atmosphere! And the game/rules were easy to follow which was a bonus for me! Aussie Rules Footy rules not so much! We caught the train there and back, it was good fun and looking forward to our next game!

Tonka got sick a couple weeks back with a stomach infection poor boy. Now he's just getting over an aggressive limph infection! We were actually quite worried for him as we thought it was something more serious due to his age. He had a biopsy done after we realized he wasn’t getting better, only worse and luckily it came back with nothing serious! Phew!! So he was on all the good, strong drugs and seems to be perking up now, finally, was a bit of a slow process for a little bit. Nice to have our animated puppy back :) At the same time, Dan and I we're sick too! Poor Dan had a wicked chest infection and I had a viral infection, not as bad as Dan but still not fun!! So it was an eventful household last week! Not.

Enjoyed a lovely Mother’s Day Dinner a couple weekends back with the family. Is always nice to have the family all together regardless of who’s family it is.

We're off to see Cirque Du Soleil next week which I'm really looking forward too! We went and saw one of their shows last time I was in this country and loved it! So should be a great experience again! :)

Took in 10 pin bowling last weekend! haha. Was good fun! Living in the Valley you're kind of deprived of good bowling and a bar in one place! Was nice to catch up with a friend from home, although she's from here but we met her up Mount Washington. Small world.

Well I think that's about it since my last post other then the everyday life stuff. I can’t seem to remember what else we got up to, I’m pretty sure I’ve covered most of it. Busy busy for the most part and enjoying life, for the most part :P Thinking of all my close family and friends always as always. xxx

P.S. Thinking of Danielle and Dave who are past their due date! I hope your little baby comes out soon so you can meet that beautiful little miracle face to face and so you can have your body back Danielle :) Sending you lots of love. And congrats to my friends back home who have had babies and to those who are pregnant right now!! Thinking of you all! xxx Chow for now.

what a week...

Wow what a busy and eventfull couple of weeks it's been!

Well I've started my new position as 'Acting Branch Manager' in Cranbourne at the beginning of last week. At the moment I'm filling as manager while the real branch manager is on a leave of absence. I haven't been told how long this position will be for, as far as I know it's for a bout 2-3 months. After that, they want to move me to another branch as a permanent branch manager or if I like back to my old position, it's up to me. I'm enjoying the new branch, the two girls I work with are great which always makes the job better! I'm still getting used to the position and as having no previous manager training in this industry I'm learning a lot as I go which can be a bit stressful at times. But everyone seems pleased with what I'm doing, so I must be doing something right. :)

After a stressful week and half of looking for a place and fililng out a handfull of applications Dan and I have finally found and moved into our own space! :) It's a gorgeous three bedroom, fenced courtyard and double lock up garage unit. It's tucked nicely into the corner of our quiet street and only two other units on either side of us attached by the garages which means no noise from their homes. Bonus :) It's about a 5 minute walk to the beautiful Chelsea beach, shops, train station and a big communtiy park. You could say that we're really happy with it! The move went as smooth as a move can go I suppose. We're SO glad it's over and very happy to have had the help of both Dan's parents! And the use of their truck! :) Luckily it was a long weekend, so we had some extra time to unpack and get ourselves organized, and maybe do a little bit of shopping ;) We bought ourselves our first fancy brand new couch (a first for both of us) and a nice big TV. The essentials of course ;) hahaha. You can imagine there are many more things that we want to get to make our new house a home, but all in time. We're just enjoying having our own space and being able to have Tonka as a part of the family right now.

Dan's walked Tonka to the beach almost everyday since we moved in. Tonka's soaking it all up! There are so many dogs on the beach in the morning so he has lots of socializing to do and he loves wading in the water. We went for a walk the other night and I saw the most wildlife I've seen since I've been here. We ran into a possum on the telephone wire, he was eyeing up Tonka, luckily Tonka couldn't see him b/c I don't think that wouldn't of ended well if he had. We saw a cute teeny tiny tree frog and I also managed to get scared by a yabbie (it's like a fresh water mini lobster), it was in the middle of the side walk!! It was dark out so of course I freaked out (maybe screamed and did a slightly girly jump out of the way) as I thought it was a scorpion. As I'm sure you can guess, Dan had a good laugh at me.

We're still getting our internet sorted out, so if I've been keeping in touch with you via email or facebook, it may be a bit speratic for a little while.

It's Dan's big Birthday this weekend! We're going to have a really nice family birthday dinner at a local pub. And it's also his nephew's birthday on the same day, he's turning three, so off to the zoo we go :) Should be fun seeing all the kids running around, screaming. Although the zoo may be a no go depending on Dan's two brothers. One broke his femer about two months ago and has to go in for surgery today to get the large pin in his ankle taken out. The other broke his femer last week and is in a cast now. Go figure, I just hope this won't continue it's cycle with Dan!! So depending on how the guys are feeling will depend on if the zoo is a go. I suppose we could always push them both around in wheelchairs! I'm sure they'd love that! hahaha.

Well that's it for now. Thinking of you all, all of the time. Been feeling really homesick today, so if I haven't heard from you for a while feel free to call me or drop an email by! Always nice to hear from family and friends even if it's a short email/phone call. Catch up with you all soon now that we're a bit more settled.

Brenna xxx

P.S. If I haven't given you my new address yet and you want it, let me know :)

It's that time again...

So Dan and I are doing pretty good. We've started house hunting which is exciting! We're looking for a place that will be available sometime in March right near the beach. We found the perfect house last night on the internet, 3 bedroom, lock up garage, modern, covered patio & pets would be considered and it's literally right on the beach! But it's available now which we're not too sure if we can arrange our move to be that soon, but we'll be booking in an inspection for sometime next week and then we'll go from there. The place looks absolutely gorgeous/perfect on the internet, too bad it's not available a bit later, but we will see. Wish us luck!

Dan's work is going well, he enjoys his job which is a good thing! My work isn't too bad. I've actually been offered a branch manager position in one of the suburbs close to here, the only thing is, is it will be a bit of a commute when we move out. Pretty good opportunity especially considering that I haven't even finished my 3 month probation yet, I'm guessing this is sign that I'll pass?! haha. It would be a great opportunity, but we will see, still having a think over it and have to let the big boss know by Monday.

Dan and I haven't been up to too much exciting over the past few weeks, just keeping our heads down and eyes on the goal, we've been doing a pretty good job of it might I add. :) Will be nice to live a bit more though and hopefully that will happen sometime in the near future. Plus a vacation will be in order after all of this! Perhaps Fiji or Bali? I suppose whichever is the cheapest at the time, I don't mind, I just want to sit on the beach and do nothing!

The floods have stopped for the most part down in our region, but people are still cleaning up from the last one. We've still been getting some pretty heavy rains on and off, but nothing major which is a good thing. I have to say that I'm pretty disappointed about the weather here this summer as we've only had a handful of sunny/hot days and summer's nearly over now! :( But I am thankful that we didn't get caught up in the floods, cyclone or brushfires that the rest of the country has been dealing with. So there's always next summer I suppose for sitting on the beach and working on my tan. :)

We've had a good ol' time dealing with our cars lately, I'm hoping that their temper tantrums are over now! We had to replace the entire clutch in the Golf, then about a week or so later the alternator went, so we had to get that fixed. Then a couple of days ago the Gemini broke down, we still have yet to find out what happened to it as it's the weekend now and the mechanics closed, but we will find out on Monday. The joys of having older cars I suppose! Or just owning cars in general!

Well, not much else going on at the moment. We have our big move in the near future, then a family camping trip over Easter long weekend, then settling into our own place (nesting:) and getting out doing some more things/joining some clubs/having more fun all to look forward too over the next few months. Exciting! Love you all! Hope all is good in all of your lives and always thinking of you.

Brenna xxx

Check these out...

Copy and paste these links into google:

www.smh.com.au/environment/victorian-towns-ut-on-flood-watch-20110205-1ah3w.html

www.theage.com.au/environment/weather/flash-floods-strike-across-victoria-20110204-lagxs.html

Some local news/photos/videos on the floods around Victoria if you're interested.

Floods floods & more floods...

I thought I should put a few photos up for you all so you can get an idea of what's been going on around town. It's craziness around the city & suburbs!! Highways/freeways/roads shut b/c they're flooded, it's like I'm in a boat sometimes driving through some of the big, deep puddles. I don't think their roads are built for this much rain, no ditches on the side and their soil is so hard from being dry for so long that it doesn't seem to take in much moisture, so it all just overflows onto the roads. Plus there are a huge amount of houses flooded and sitting in water. I definitely wasn't prepared to see this much rain when I came over here! I just can't believe the damage it's doing. And people getting stuck in their homes or washed away holding onto dear life to a tree. Dan read yesterday in the paper that two guys up North drank so much and passed out that when they woke up they had slept through cyclone Yasi and woke up with no roof on their house!! There's a picture of them sitting on their couch passed out with no roof on the front page of the paper, haha, funny but sad at the same time. Here's a few local photos:

A local nursery at the bottom of the hill.

One of the puddles I drove through on the way home from work today, this was beside my car as I went through, glad the seals in our car work! And it wasn't the only one that I went through.

The Freeway, obviously closed off now.

On another not, my floristry course that I was supposed to start this Monday got cancelled on me. :( I'm really disappointed about it! Not enough people had enrolled in the course and the next one isn't until April. Lame! So I just asked to get refunded and maybe I'll do it later on this year, we'll see, I still really want to try it out though. Wasn't meant to be this time I suppose.

Another couple of months and bills should be fully paid off which means we'll be getting our own place! Yippee! :D I cannot WAIT to have our own space and to have all of our belongings in one spot instead of three! I'm so excited for that! Dan too. Moving to another country has not been cheap! But it'll all pay off in the end :)

Off to the vet on Monday to get Tonka's eye checked out, getting a second opinion before we spend a bunch of money on an eye specialist. Let's hope it's healing now and we won't have to do that! It wasn't last time we were at the vet & he said he couldn't do anything else and that Tonka needed to go to see an eye specialist. whoop whoop. So we're off to get a second opinion first.

Had a fun Aussie day last week. Went down to the Mornington Peninsula and took in the local events/parade, had a nice lunch out, it was a very relaxing and nice day out. Tonz of Aussie pride out there that's for sure and some fantastic outfits out there made out of their national flag of course. Fun times.

Not too much else going on other than family events & just exploring around the areas, checking them out, getting to know them etc etc. It's so much fun exploring and learning all of these new things, finding these new and exciting places. Really enjoying it! And they're all so close around here. It's great! There's a lot of things that I/we want to do over the next couple of years, so you could say that we're going to be busy, but in a good way :) That's it for this time around...chow for now.