The Streets of Barcelona.

There are two things I love about Spain so far. Firstly, the crazy architecture (pictures coming). I love that a lot of buildings here don't make any sense, yet are beautiful and original. Secondly, I love the fashion. I have never been one to be overly in to fashion. I don't dress the 'trends' I dress to suit my body and also I am pretty lazy in my fashion choices so I like to keep it simple. I do love people who throw on a thousand layers and completely accessorize with jewelery and handbags and shoes and what not, but I prefer to throw on a maxi dress with a couple of bangles or some tights with a jumper dress. Spain in changing that for me though, it's also making me depressed. Everyone is amazingly fashionable here and look like they have walked out of a magazine. I wish I was a millionaire so I could spend all day in the amazing shops buying all the amazing clothes I see but I'm not, I'm on a budget. I also wish I was 3 dress sizes smaller so I could fit in to half the unrealistic sized clothes! I'm not huge, don't get me wrong...but I'm not a stick, I'm not 'skinny' and I have a body which usually doesn't like to follow trends...so that makes me a tad depressed. The biggest trends i have seen in Spain so far (and I expect to see in the Australian stores next winter) is knee high or thigh high boots (I LOVE this trend a bought an amazing pair of boots today for 34.99 Euro, denim shorts over black leggings (I'm not much of a fan), baggy jumper dresses with tights (my personal favourite) and a lot of nautical and cream tones. I love it and I never thought I would be one to get so excited for fashion.

Anyways, today was half wasted. Firstly we didn't get up until 11am as we spent yesterday travelling and didn't arrive in the hotel until after midnight so we needed the sleep in. Once we did finally get up we decided to go for a wander and wanted to go to the Museum of Natural History. For some stupid reason it didn't exist! So we spent the better part of the morning looking for it, which obviously wasted a lot of time. Once we realised we weren't going to find it, we changed our site seeing plans to go for a wander to Gracia St which basically has a lot of pretty and weird architecture. It was a little bit of a let down as it was no where near as good as the photos but what you going to do. Tomorrow we will have some better site seeing set out! This evening we are going out for dinner to bring a lot of Sangria and eat as much Tapas as we can!

One thing I should point out. I do really hate 2 things in Spain. Firstly, its noisy! Even the quiet streets (our street) continually has cars and people yelling and what not. Secondly, the streets here are so confusing! I have found that with most of Europe though.

Another day of our travels almost complete and it's amazing what we have seen and experienced so far. So back I go to my Gin and Juice (i accidently got Orange and Carrot juice, but it's not bad) and to get ready to hit the streets again. Photos soon, I promise.

ps; if you haven't noticed. I have changed the name of the blog. I have been thinking about it for a while. I never was 100% in love with freedom of thought, I wanted something a little more explanatory of what I'm writing about. Initially this blog was to get things off my mind. Now I feel this blog is telling my story and what I journey for the time being. My life is like a little love story and thats what I adore about it. So for the time being this is the new name. Chances are I'll change it again haha.

Trains & Extra Time.

So, I have been in France for about 10 days now. Surprisingly I feel we haven't done a whole lot, but also we have done just enough. I am not going to lie, Bordeaux was boring. We spent time wandering the streets, looking through museums, ice skating and so on, but it's just not a town for me. Today I find myself stuck in Narbonne, South France. This place is possibly the most dull and boring town I have come across. I am so excited for Barcelona which will hopefully entail a lot of sangria, tapas, architecture and shopping. Spain has never been a country I was over interested in, but since we started planning this trip its somewhere can't wait to see. I love Spanish food and culture, so all in all I think I will enjoy myself. So far, I am pretty happy with my ability to keep up with blogging and photos on facebook, I was worried I wouldn't have the time, but luckily enough I have and keeping a record of our journey is something I which I consider extremely important to me. When I get home I also plan on filling up a photo album a very good and lovely friend of mine gave to me before I left with important pictures from the trip and make a scrapbook. I am going to have a LOT of free time, so I might as well use it sufficiently. Anyways, considering I wasn't going to write this blog today, I thought I should keep it quick, but it sure has been a good chance to kill 10 minutes in this crappy town. Below is some pictures, to keep you up to date.

Above are a few pictures from ice-skating in Bordeaux. Not surprisingly, I was no where near as good as I remembered myself being! Below are a couple of pictures we took from a park in Narbonne, word of advise, if you are going to France Narbonne is NOT worth seeing! Haha.

A New Year?

So, it comes to that time of year again when the year in winding down we all start contemplating our previous resolutions and begin to wonder what the following year is going to bring. New Years eve going in to 2010 I spent it alone with Jesse at Kings Park. They say what your doing on New Years eve is meant to be a reflection for the year to come. Well if last year is to go by I agree. Spending it alone with Jesse and not at a night club was probably one of the best decisions I have made. Though I love (loved) to drink and dance, it seems I am becoming increasingly content with spending nights at home and quiet drinks at friends houses or one-on-one in a small bar. Maybe I am getting old? I can't drink like I used too. When I first turned 18 Amanda and I would spend many nights out dancing and drinking. Now days, though I go out on occasion I find a) I am either pretty much sober, or embarrassingly drunk and b) more often than not, I would rather be at home with my mister in our little bubble. Is this possibly a reflection of the new years eve we had?

I don't know if 2010 was a good year, I wouldn't go as far as calling it amazing or spectacular, but it wasn't bad either. There was a number of highs (ie. I am sitting in my hotel room in France as I write this) and a number of lows (ie. The loss of Jason, I don't need to say more). The best thing about this year is I have grown to know what is important to me and who matters most. I haven't been a huge 'friend' person, but this year I have managed to narrow down the people in my life to a group of 3 'best' (my hatred for that word is another post I might share with you all at another time) or 'closest' friends and a small number of other people who I enjoy spending my time with. I have my family, who are the most important in my life and who I would do anything for and finally I have Jesse, who after 5 years together, now heading to 6 has become my other half and finally after all this time I feel our level of comfort has made this relationship the one I want to spend the rest of my life in with out any doubt.

2010 was filled with school, work, travel, mini holiday with Amanda, death, tears, joy and happiness. I am happy it is over, because I have a good feeling for 2011. I am heading back to uni full time, I don't have a job and I am surrounded by only the people I truly want in my life. I think every and any year can become a defining year in your life and for me 2010 was a year to remember. Not for any spectacular reason, but 2010 was the year that taught me so much. It taught me the importance of friendship, family and commitment and most importantly taught me the importance of life and how easily it is lost.

On another note, tomorrow is our final day in France. We head over to Barcelona first thing in the morning on the following day. It's an 8 hour train ride and I am running out of my book to read. Still no luggage, we probably aren't following up on it as much as we should, but realistically we don't care. We have each other and we are seeing some of the most beautiful things, our luggage will find us eventually. To be honest, I am missing home a little bit, mainly because everyone seems to be having such a good time without me, but this is an experience I will never forget. One thing I have learnt is never to unappreciate the warm weather ever again!

So if the way you spend New Years eve is a reflection of your upcoming year, I am spending it in Barcelona, with the boy I love more than anything in the world and plan to spend every day for the rest of my life with. Does that mean I will have another year like 2010? I sure hope so. As for a New Years resolution? I don't have one, but I expect 2011 is going to be my year for growing up. My year for settling down, maybe focus on my future a little more than I have been doing. It's the year I am (hopefully) going to finish uni, (hopefully) find a 'real' job and will be spending with the small group of amazing people I want to be spending my time with. I am excited.

Sunshine in Bordeaux!

So yesterday was Christmas. It was my first Christmas ever away from my family and our first Christmas ever just us. It wasn't really much of a day to be honest. We spent the entire day (well until about 6pm) in the hotel room watching movies and allowing my legs to fix themselves from the previous 4 days of walking the streets of Paris as I had grown a limp and was walking like an 80 year old man with back problems. We ate lunch, watched movies etc etc. In the evening we headed out for some dinner and found a tiny little restaurant which served the most French food we had since coming to France. You think it would be easy to find French food in France, it's not. There is a lot of Italian food, but a distinct lack of French food (strange I know). Anyways, back to dinner. They had an option for 20euro where you chose 3 courses, so we did that. Jesse tired Frogs legs for entrée, salmon for mains and some sort of chocolate cake for desert. I had a prawn and avocado entrée, duck main and profiterole desert. So as you can see, it was a good value for money and quite 'French'. We were impressed.

A Christmas just Jesse and I was different, but I liked it. We didn't have to drive to 3 locations and sit for endless hours with family and do all that stuff. It was nice, in some cases lonely but most of all was different and could possibly start a tradition of our own. We spoke about this, the idea of in future spending Christmas each year with our families in the morning and then from lunch onwards we do our own thing (which we decided should be a sea food lunch...yuuuuum). But next Christmas is a whole 12 months away! We are a little strange, we like being alone in our bubble.

Early this morning we left Paris and got on a train to Bordeaux which is a completely different experience of France. Firstly, it is sunny here. That's right, blue sky and sun which obviously makes the temperature bearable. Secondly, it's quite here. Paris had a continual buzz about it, a distinct charm which you can't exactly put your finger on. Opera was always busy and cold. It was authentic and rustic and the type of place within Paris I could see myself moving too. In contrast, Bordeaux is quiet, clean and a little fancy. The obvious down side to this, though it is beautiful (it truly is breath taking) it is a lot more expensive than Opera. But I would love to live here also. Being boxing day today, everything was closed so we are yet to explore but thats what tomorrow is for.

I love France, I truly do. I would love to live here. Jesse and I have discussed this at length since being here, maybe in a few years moving here for a year or so. Something different. It would be an amazing experience to be a 'local'. We even decided if we did we would ship Archer over with us, he wouldn't love the cold but he loves us so he would get over it (he is a dog so really he has no choice). I think this is a country where you can't experience it fully unless you know the language and fully integrate yourself in to the culture, so thats what we plan on doing one day.

So finally, we still haven't found our luggage or had time to make a claim (plus our phone in Paris was difficult to work so we couldn't call to make the insurance claim). It's kinda funny you pack so much when you travel and then if you lose it all it makes it so ironic how much crap you brought and really how little you need. It would be nice to wear something different though haha. Our hotel in Bordeaux is a lot less modern than Paris, but it has charm. Our window is straight out on to a quiet street, so thats lovely. No pictures of this beautiful city as of yet, but I will keep you updated.

Another day in Paris

So, another day in Paris. Today we woke up early again (in a lot of plain from the previous 3 days of walking) and decided to head first to Notre Dame and then brave the cold to the Eiffle Tower. We made it to Notre Dame without a hitch, we walked to the only train station we know (and can understand the signs) and took the B line to Notre Dame (which had it's own station). Easy. Notre Dame is beautiful and obviously being close to Christmas it is even lovelier as it is surrounded with snow, Christmas trees etc. From here we wandered the streets, bought some new shoes, had some crepes and hot chocolate and then decided it would be a lovely idea to walk to the Eiffle Tower. It wasn't. It took over an hour to walk in the freezing cold and epic snow and by the time we reached it I was limping from pain. We decided to stop in a little Brassiere for lunch (French onion soup and lasagna because they were the only items we recognised in the all French menu). From here we limped (literally) to the Eiffle Tower and took a number of snow covered photos. As you may know, tomorrow is Christmas so we are going to be celebrating the day in our own little way. Tonight we are heading out to the markets to pick up sausage, cheese, bread, antipasto and macaroons so that we can have a French inspired Christmas lunch/dinner and we plan on spending the entire day in the room watching movies, eating, drinking wine and letting our legs recover from 4 straight days of walking. Anyways, as promised here are a few more photos. The best thing about this trip has been the opportunity to write about it and share the pictures with you all so I hope you like them.

Above are a couple of pictures from inside Notre Dame, while below are just a few snaps from our very long walk from Notre Dame to the Eiffle Tower. I have never been as cold as I was during that walk.

Below is the lunch we had today, lunch is quickly becoming our 'favourite' meal of the day..well really it's the only meal. We find a big lunch gets us through the day (and we are usually asleep by 8.30 anyways lol).

Finally, below are the photos from the Eiffle Tower. I think Jesse fell in love with it even more than I did!

Merci Paris.

So it's been 3 days since we first arrived in Paris and we know the streets of 'our' area to almost call it home. We started off to a bumpy start, we spent 20 hours flying from Perth to Amsterdam to then enter Europe in some ridiculously bad weather. Any flights in or out of Charles De Gaul airport in Paris were completely cancelled, so we were stranded. After spending 5 hours sitting around Amsterdam airport, we were advised to forget our luggage (which was in Kuala Lumpa or Amsterdam or hopefully Paris) and get on a train. It was only a 3 hour train ride so we were pretty happy and as we left Holland we slowly started to realise why no one could fly. Even on the ground we couldn't determine the ground from the sky, everything was white, which was something completely breathtaking to me. Once we (finally) reached Paris we made the trip to CDG to find thousands of stranded people and a 4 hour line to attempt to reclaim our luggage.

Today we made the trek back to CDG (about 40 minutes from Opera which is where we are staying) and made a claim for our lost luggage but considering thousands of people are in a similar situation it could take weeks for us to find our luggage again. Luckily we have insurance, so we have been shopping up a storm to replace the clothes we are missing.

Paris is breath taking. It's beautiful and charming and every district in amazingly different in it's own way. We are in the 'red light district' so as you can imagine lots of sex shops and also the infamous Moulin Rouge. We have spent the last 3 days shopping, walking and eating and I am happy to report today was my first experience with escargot (we were impressed). Today it hit 0 degrees and it has been snowing for hours. There is nothing quite as beautiful as snow falling. I am in love with this city. I love it's mystery and wish I had more time to explore. Here are a few photos so far!

Above are the streets of our district, Opera. There are hundreds of little streets lined with cheap stalls, food vendors and cafes. Below are picture from a church we stumbled upon on our first day discovering the streets.

Below are a couple of pictures from our 'early morning' (like 9am but nothing is open before 10am) walk to the train station.

We found this amazing little Cafe just outside of Gran de Nord train station which had the BEST chicken and I was so impressed by the snails.

Finally, we ended the day wandering the streets to a shopping center a thousand miles away. Though it was a disappointment, it was great wandering in the snow, we came across this church along the walk which was beautiful and well worth the cold.

How?

We are all trying to figure out where we are meant to go from here without such an amazing person in our lives. For me, it's no where near as difficult for Jesse, Lisa and Danny and for them, its no where near as difficult as it is for his wife. The interesting thing about this is how much is it affecting people in such different ways, even people who didn't know him are crying for him, his wife, his family and his friends. We are going to miss his funeral. How are you meant to say good bye properly without going to the funeral? Everyone keeps telling us to 'do our own thing', but it doesn't seem right...there is no way to express that he is gone. I don't feel right going to Europe without saying good bye, really I don't feel right going to Europe at all. How are we meant to go and enjoy ourselves knowing how hurt everyone is feeling here? They keep telling us he wanted us to go, he wouldn't want us dwelling on this. But how do you not? Last night Jesse and I were watching TV and forgot that survivor was on, Jason usually reminded us it was on. How do you move past that? How do you forget to watch half of his favourite show and not cry about it?

Though it's getting easier for everyone day by day, I think it is starting to scare everyone that life is going on without him. They still go to work and do their job, his wife will start to slowly regain her daily routine and one day everyone will be able to live as if it never happened. I think thats the worst part, no matter how much we don't want to let go, for the sake of living we need to say good bye and move on. Every story about him will go from becoming a sad story to one of happiness. It's not like anyone will ever forget him, you can't forget someone that amazing...but everyone will push him to the back of our minds as a distant memory and a story. I guess thats the luck thing, everyone has so many amazing stories of him and how he affected their life no matter how small or big.

I am trying to get motivated to get positive now. We can only be unmotivated and sad for so long. I am going on this trip, I need to enjoy it. I need to enjoy it because he wanted us to enjoy it. So I am going to try my best.

Goodbye.

It's strange how easily life can be taken away. You always hear the stories of people who die before their time and how they were 'the life of the party' and 'everyones friend'. He really was, if you met him he would instantly become a best friend. He was one of those guys who you could open up to and always looked up too. The guy who went from being that kid who drag raced and dated numerous women, who always had a good story to tell and was up for a drink, to the man who had a wife and a son and spent his life helping everyone else around him.

It took one second. One second for him to end up on the wrong side of the road and in to a truck. Why didn't he get a red light on the way? Leave home 1 second earlier or later? His wife is stuck here without him for the rest of her life, wondering what could have been. And everyone else who was a part of his life is stuck here wondering how it happened.

He was the guy to get me super drunk and be proud when I passed out. The guy who would sit and speak drunkenly with me about the future and try and point me in the right direction. Tell me the respect he had for me and my relationship, and never really realise how much we looked up to him. He was the one everyone would come to with issues in their life, marriage and any thing else that was bothering them. The guy that shook my boyfriends hand because I couldn't be grossed out by his porn collection (oh he tried). I can think of a number of stories and happy occasions I have experienced with him in the few years I have known him. He leaves behind a wife, a son, mother, father, a group of close work friends, a group of close friends he has know since school and a boss who considers him a son. I can still picture his smile and I know how happy he makes,made, every single person in his life. I have never seen a death affect so many people in so many ways.

I can't begin to say how much we all miss you. I hate the thought I won't hear Jesse come home with stories of how great you made his day, I hate that your wife is all alone, I hate that we will never have a drink again and I hate how much everyone is hurting right now because your not here. I adored you Jason, I wish you never had to leave xoxo

Tequila Time.

So Amanda and I went down south for a couple of days this week for a girlie road trip. Basically it consisted of a very long drive (all of which I had to do), a lot of champagne, a lot of tequila and a lot of swimming. It was amazing to spend some time doing nothing and get away (before my big get away). After numerous bottles of champagne and shots of tequila Amanda and I decided it would be a great idea to go swimming in the indoor pool. We spent 3 hours sitting in the warm water. Once we finally decided to get out Amanda dropped her I-Phone from like 4 meters at the top of stairs and left her dress, sunglasses and camera cover at the pool. Luckily we got the sunnies and camera cover back, but not so much luck on her dress. Haha.

Generation Gap.

Today I spent 2 hours teaching my nanna how to use paint. I came to her house after work to pick up my washing (my machine is currently out of order to say the least) to find her and her husband sitting in their computer room cutting up pieces of paper. I noticed a large box of plain white stickers and asked her what she was doing. Simply she replied; I am using the stickers to cover up the bits I don't want and then I am going to photo copy them so it doesn't look messy and give them to my friends. At 70 something years of age my nanna has decided to make a little business. She is selling home made candles and bath salts etc. She wholesales the bath salts and was making up some fliers to show a friend. After a couple of minutes I got on the computer, made her a simple logo and began cropping and pasting things from the website she uses to make fliers. She was amazed by Paint, to be honest I have never seen someone SO amazed by something so simple. I tried to slow down and show her how to cut and paste (without using short cuts I might add) so that she could play around with it herself. I could see her watching me cut and paste and cut and paste and cut and paste, but really I know she would have completely forgotten it when I left. I used paint to erase a few sentences and she completely thought it was magic, how could I make something disappear?

It was so cute to watch her so amazed by something which I learnt as a child. Our generation take something as small and simple as Paint for granted. We don't realise how much we know and how little the generations before us learnt in regards to computers and the internet. My nanna has dedicated herself to learning our new technologies. She has an email address, is a member of numerous candle related websites and has recently joined facebook to keep tabs on the grandchildren (in particular the one who has gone over seas indefinitely). She doesn't realise how far she has come and what she has learnt. She has come from a town where there was little electricity or running water. She spent months on a boat from Italy to Australia to follow her family. She raised 4 children (alone), is a grandmother of nine and great grandmother of two (so far). She is an amazing woman and is amazing to want to continue learning even now. I doubt she realises how great she is.

Lunch in Paris.

I love this time of year. I love shopping for Christmas presents, looking at Christmas lights, having a super busy Christmas day. I love it all. The lead up, the day, boxing day, finding that perfect present for the people you love. This year it's a little strange to not be doing that. No shopping. No presents. The weirdest part of this year, this 'summer' is the fact that it's cold and rainy. As I write I am sitting in leggings and a jumper, who would have thought I would be wearing any more than shorts and a singlet at this time of year?

It's exactly two weeks until we leave. I am working for the beginning part of this week, then running away down south with Amanda to drink and (hopefully) spend a few days at the beach. After that I come back to work the weekend and Monday and then my life as an unemployed lady begins. The obvious choice of what I will be doing on the Tuesday is getting my hair done and maybe a champagne lunch with Amanda.

I am an organisational FREAK. I need everything to be perfectly planned and organised, so I am starting to get anxious at the lack of organising that I have done for Europe. I feel like I have so much to do, and no time to do it in. On the plus side all transport and accommodation is sorted, but seeing as Europe is currently in the middle of a blizzard, I am freaking out a little bit because there is so much I want to do and not a lot of time to do it in. But I guess thats the one thing I can't control, the weather.

The book I am reading, Lunch in Paris, is making me so excited because the author sees France in the way I want to see it. Dim lit alley ways and small dark restaurants, romance and cold weather. I want to see 'the sights' but more than anything I want some amazing food and wine and spend some time with my amazing boyfriend. My amazing mother has bought Jesse and I a DSLR camera so we will be taking a BILLION (yes I have been warned I will want to kill Jesse with the amount of photos he will take) photos of our trip.

I don't know where 2010 has gone, but I am happy its gone. I have never been as happy with my life as I am now. I have a fantastically supportive group of friends who keep me entertained, a family who no matter what love me and of course, I have the most amazing boyfriend a girl could ever wish for.

Snowy Paris at Christmas, I'll see you soon!

21 Questions, and They're All About Us.

At the moment Jesse and I are watching some new TV show called 'Better With You'. Basically there are three couples, couple 1; dating 10 weeks and getting married, couple 2; dating 9 years and continually justify their decision to not get married, and couple 3; married 35 years. Obviously the couple which closely resemble my own relationship is couple 2 who know each other inside and out and are still unmarried. The first episode made me consider an interesting thought, after dating for so long you forget so many small things about each other. So now, Jesse and I have started a game of 21 Questions. Originally it started with a simple question 'What is my favourite ice-cream flavour?' (FYI Jesse's in Vanilla....could he get any more lame!) and has progressed to alcohol, actors, songs and movies from there. I can finish his sentences, read his mind and spend hours on end talking with Jesse, yet you ask me what his favourite ice-cream flavor is and I was stumped. Its funny, how 5 years ago when Jesse and I first met I could have answered any of these small questions, and after time and knowledge of each other on a different level I have completely forgotten. It's like starting all over again, 21 questions. It's like a game and I love re-learning the littlest things about the boy I love.

Lady of Leisure.

At the moment there are two points which I consider worth mentioning. Firstly, I am reading a new book. A cutsie little lovey dovey book called 'Lunch in Paris' by Elizabeth Bard. Its a story about the author meeting her husband. He was a Parisian student and she was an American student on exchange in London. So far, a chapter or so in they have fallen in love. Like most French people (or so I assume) he can cook, which seems to be the alluring factor which draws the author to him. Each chapter ends in recipes which he/they cook throughout the story. It's very cute so far and very lovely.

I have spent a lot of time reading lately. A lot of time reading and a lot of time thinking. This is a recipe for creativity. When I was young, I always wanted to write a book. I never knew what on, and I never knew how but I knew I wanted to do it. As I grew older I lost sight of this dream, but lately I have managed to rediscover my passion for writing. I wouldn't know when, I don't even think I would know how to write a novel, but I think it's something I would like to focus my time on. I left my journalism degree due to the lack of real creativity and the crazy amount of stuck up 'I am god's gift' people that I came across, but writing is and always will be something which is extremely important to me. I don't think I am overly talented but I am passionate and eager to learn which I think is all you need to achieve such a dream. Most importantly, I have a story to tell. Something which I consider worth reading and worth telling. I know so many people who have an understanding of my life and my experiences and who disagree with this idea. But the older I have grown the more I have realised my story is worth telling and it is something which interests people who I decide to share it with.

The second point. I quit my job. After 2 years at Westnet, I quit. Why? Because it felt right. Because it continually stressed me out. Because I need to put myself and my university degree first. Because I was beginning to hate it. I feel stupid because I have noreal reason. No new job. No super angry reason to quit. But I think I have made the right choice. It's 3 weeks until I go to Europe (I had to give 2 weeks notice, so really it will be 1 week of unemployment before my trip). When I get back I have 1 month of work experience with the Retirement Village Association working directly with the regional Public Relations and Marketing manager. So yeah it's not glamorous, but she is AMAZING and so dedicated to her profession. I'm not looking for glamor, I am looking for hard work where I can push myself and apply the skills I'm learning. So as of December 13th, I will be unemployed.

Life is filled with uncertainty at the moment.I have never made such an uncertain decision so to be completely honest I have no idea what to expect for the future. I guess the unknown is exciting and exhilarating, but at the same time its petrifying. I am good at change and I am terrible at change all at the same time. I am happy within my decision and know for the first time in my life, I have put myself and my needs before the needs of others and I love myself for it.

Christmas in the Air.

I love Christmas. Like so so much. I love Christmas shopping, Christmas food, Christmas day, Christmas lights, Christmas decorations. EVERYTHING. This year, I will be spending Christmas in a (hopefully) snow covered Paris drinking wine and eating cheese in a quiet hotel room while listening to Kanye and Cudi. I can't wait to walk the streets of Paris in winter clothes to discover quiet little cafes and pubs, amazing clothing stores, museums, art galleries and everything in between. It's three weeks until we go, I have so much to do before we leave...work, see friends and family, buy the last of my essentials (YES I need 10 books for the plane rides there AND back) and enjoy the pre-Christmas festivities. Being so busy means time is flying by and I love it. In a week or so I am driving down south with the lovely Amanda to spend a few nights drinking and eating and beaching (most likely all at the same time) because according to her we don't do enough 'girl things' like trips. It's an exciting couple of weeks and I seriously am going to explode from excitement about this holiday!!

You Two are Like Married!?

For any of you have been in a long term relationship before, you will know exactly what this blog is referring too. For those of you who haven't, your probably one of the people I am talking about. As most of you may know from previous posts (or the sheer fact that no one other than my mum, auntie and possibly a few close friends read this) I have been in a relationship since I was 15, which makes it 5 years in fact. I like this, I like this a lot. As the years rolled on and I have become older I have started to notice the reactions people make when they find out this little piece of information about myself. There are two categories of reactions which I regularly receive. The first response is what I have come to name the 'marriage' response. It goes a little something like this: Random: 'How long have you been with your boyfriend for?', Jade: 'Uhhhmmm 5 years', Random: 'OHHHH MYYYYY GOODDDDDDDDDD you two are like married', Jade: 'Haha uhm yeah nahhh', Random: 'OMG when are you going to get married? Are you going to get married? Obviously your going to get married. Can I come to your wedding?'. The second response is the 'are you an idiot' response. It goes like this: Random: 'How long have you been with your boyfriend for?', Jade: 'Uhhhm 5 years', Random: 'OMG really?! What is wrong with you, what since you were 15? Wow your crazy?!?!'

In reference to the first response (it's actually my personal favourite) it's it hilarious people assume a 20 year old should be married if they are in a long term relationship? Yes we have been dating a long time, no we are not engaged. Why? Because I am 20 years old! My question is, what should triumph age or time?

Procrastination

Today, anything seems better than studying. Including a lunch with loverman at The Garden and taking numerous aimless webcam photos. The art of procrastination is something I have perfected. So much so that I have an exam on Monday and I haven't studied anything. On the plus side, you get to see some aimless photos from my webcam which include my new op shop earrings ($3.99!!), anchor tattoo and the introduction of my favourite summer clothing item, the maxi dress! Enjoy...

I try to study, but the computer is filled with so many amazing distractions! Below, anchor tattoo and my half renovated unit aka 'crapbox'. It's a work in progress.

Now, after this minor distraction I will be hitting the books and studying Corporate Public Relations. Its not a had class, not even a lot of learn. I am just suuuuuuper lazy haha!