Quoth the Raven

Food! Glorious Food!

Sydney is definitely the place to find it.

Sydney is the hub of fine dining, a city surrounded by picturesqe scenes, aswell as absolutely gorgeous people.

One such restaurant to find all this and more is Cafe Sydney. Don't be fooled by the name, this restaurant is in no way to be compared to a cafe.

With views overlooking the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge, that alone is worth reserving a table for, but add to that the fine dining, and the attentive staff, and you have Cafe Sydney.

If you get the chance to visit the land downunder, and find yourself wandering around the Rocks in Sydney, get yourself to Cafe Sydney - you won't be disappointed.

Home-less

I am changing my motto.

No longer will I state '3rd time lucky' as that statement is an obvious fallacy.

We are now home-less.

Not in the literal sense of the word. We are without our cute little home that I bragged about yesterday. Maybe I shouldn't have counted my chickens before they had hatched.

Well I can safely say that the chickens have left the building.

The chickens are no more.

And who needs chickens anyway. Smelly little creatures that they are.

To cut a long story short, we are not the proud owners of a cute little home. You know the one, I posted about it yesterday, even going so far as posting a photo. Are you surprised that I didn't cut and paste images of Joel and I standing by the front door? Call me slightly obsessive.

We had the inspection today and the house failed the inspection. Don't get me wrong, we are not that fussy, and could deal with some minor flaws but the inpectors went underneath the house and were back breathing the fresh air in about 3 minutes. Hey, that could be a good sign, right? That is what I was trying to convince myself, but we all know that is a bad sign, a very bad sign.

The inspectors could not gain access to most of the home, which could mean a number of things, or could turn into a number of problems that we just don't want to have to deal with.

So the search is on for another home for me to obsess over, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as I love viewing homes...something to do with the inner voyeur in me?

Home Sweet Home

This is it.

After 10 years of marriage we thought it was time to settle down?

This looked like a cute home and as the saying goes "third time lucky". This was the third home that we made an offer on and we managed to sneek in while heads were turned and got it! Just like that. No competition, no bidding wars, no fuss. We viewed the place on Saturday, made an offer and got the call on Sunday - OFFER ACCEPTED!

We got a deal -  3 bedroom, 1.25 bathroom in Mapleleaf, sunroom, 7700 sf lot - all for the list price of $360k.

Tha market has been so horrendous that the 1st place we saw was listed at $400k - it sold for $550k!! Glad we didn't waste time making an offer on that one. The next one was listed at $409k, we offered $415k and it sold for $430k, AND it needed a new kitchen and bathroom! The 2nd place we made an offer on was listed at $360 and sold for $410k.

So after our previous housing experiences I think we have done very, very well.

The question I want to ask is; "Why the hell are so many people moving to Seattle?" Don't they know that it rains in Seattle all the time!! Go back to sunny California...

Gotta get away...

These were the words that were foremost in my thoughts by the end of Spring quarter.

It had been a difficult 12 weeks trying to juggle an unbelievable amount of homework, full time work, volunteer commitments and our little family of 6 ferrets. Yes, they are a handful!

Oh, and did I mention we have also been looking for a home, our first, which is unchartered territory for both of us, that is another post altogether, and I promise to post about it.

I was feeling exhausted, frustrated and a little anxious. College was tough this quarter and even though I managed to maintain a 4.0 before the final, after the final from hell, I ended up with a 3.8. That was a little depressing but you have to move on.

So much was/is going on. I really needed to unwind. Needed to just get away from it all, even for a couple of days.

So I did.

We did.

Joel, myself and my mother-in-law, Marge. Stop laughing, no, I am not joking. Unlike most, my mother-in-law is great! Really. She was just ending a 2 month trip roaming through the streets of Egypt, Turkey and the Greek Islands, and Seattle was her last stop before heading back to Sydney, Australia.

She had heard great things about the island of San Juan and wanted to hike around the whole island, ok, so I am exaggerating just slightly, it only felt like we had hiked around the whole island. Seriously, though we did have a wonderful time relaxing by the sea, even managing to spot some seals, whales and a couple of snakes while doing so.

We stayed at a lovely bed & breakfast called Olympic Lights located in an open meadow far from all civilisation; about a 10 minute drive from town. Our hosts; Christian and Lea Andrade left San Fransisco in 1985 to enjoy the island lifestyle. I guarantee that you will not find a more welcoming couple, or a more scrumptious breakfast, any where.

 

Heir of Mystery by Philip Ardagh

Well, it certainly has been a busy couple of months with work, college and my volunteer job on the side, AND looking after 6 ferrets, but I have managed to get a little reading done. I just haven't had time to write about it?

So I finished the 2nd book in the Unlikely Exploits series and thoroughly enjoyed it. Yes, I admit, yet again, that I am reading children's books and I love them.

There is something refreshing and light hearted about them? Then again, I am reading books from Philip Ardagh and there is nothing light about 'your brother Fergal, falling off a balcony and plummeting to his death' which was part of the story in the 1st Unlikely Exploit rightly named 'The Fall of Fergal'.

These books are by far better than other children's books as they have an edge, just a hint of reality to keep a person grounded, and just in case you haven't noticed, reality is sometimes harsh. But they also have an air of fantasy as you will come to see that the children are not just your everyday, run-of-the-mill children, but each was born with a unique gift...I'm sure I will find out more about these gifts in the 3rd book; The Rise of the House of McNally.

All I can say is read the books, you will not be disappointed!

A blog devoted to secrets

While perusing the blog world to find out what is going on out there I stumbled across the blog of my good friend Katie, who happened to direct me to this blog.

It is a blog devoted to secrets!

How mysterious! Oh, how fabulous!

Of course I couldn't help myself and my obsessive nature, I proceeded to read every dirty little secret, and some not-so-dirty ones.

Like this one

Or this one

Now this one is a little dirty?

This one is just sad...

I think there would be little need for secrets if people could just keep it real? Oh, wait, maybe not the 'crapping on the carpet secret', that one definitely needs to stay a secret!

Another eventful day at the grind

NOT!!

Well, it hasn't been a totally miserable day at the office, but I tire easily from the mundane aspects of my job, which is basically the job. On the bright side I work with a great bunch of people and the benefits are good. So enough of my complaining...

Of course I could not help myself and had to do some surfing. Internet surfing, not the one involving water - I'm in Seattle remember, and would have to travel to get some decent waves.

So I managed to stumble on to the blog of one of my favorite guitarists - Dave Navarro. And no, I am not enamored with him because of his good looks...he is an awesome guitarist, yes, he happens to be gorgeous aswell. What can I say? A person can't be gorgeous and talented?

Joel and I watched 'Til death do us part' when it aired and it was great. What a cute couple, and Dave is just a really sweet guy. It was nice to see how the other half live, pretty much like you or I, but with more money to spend. And even though I have a sexy husband, I cannot brag about having a body like Carmen's. Maybe with a lot of hard work?? Yeh, right. Maybe if I spent every waking hour on the treadmill?

Douglas Wood Rescued!

Finally, the media is bombarding us with some good news.

I was relieved, even overjoyed, to hear that Douglas Wood was rescued. After 47 days in captivity he is now a free man. After hearing, and seeing previous reports about innocent civilians losing their lives after being held hostage, it seems a miracle that he made it out alive.

Think! People. Think!

In the late 1940s, pulp writer L. Ron Hubbard declared:

"Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion"

Reader's Digest reprint, May 1980, p.1

Hubbard later created the Church of Scientology...

Haven't we all, at one point or another, wanted to use our entrepreneurial skills to make money? I don't know about you but I always thought I could start my own religion. How hard can it be? Even the genuine (that is me trying not to be pessimistic) article can appear trite in this country, and the money rolls in! Hey, I even thought up the name for my charity - The Faith Foundation - yeh, I know it isn't very original, but don't tell me I couldn't make a few dollars in order to help my fellow man....and invest in property, travel, buy a 68' mustang convertable, and did I mention helping my fellow man? Well I guess old Mr Hubbard used his initiative and deceptive skills to do it first, and he certainly has cashed in big time.

You can read more about the art of making money through Scientology here. Or should I say the art involved in Hubbard making money? Of course the above link is only one person opinion, but I expect that one person who was a scientologist for 30 years probably has alot of insider information to share with us; the at times gullible public? And any intelligent person (or anyone who can read the above quote that was voiced by the man) can see that Hubbard failed to make his millions with his science fiction novels so he thought of a better way...and what a better way it was?

Let's go out with a little rhyme?

'There once was a man named Hubbard

Who had very little food in the cupboard

He had a great plan, a get rich-quick scam

And he laughed all the way to the bank'

Tales of Mystery and Madness - Edgar Allan Poe

A wonderful book of tales by the endearing Mr Poe. Ever so dark, ever so Poe, of course I loved it!

Many of the popular Poe tales are told, for numerous hours of bedtime reading;

- The Black Cat

- The Masque of the Red Death

- Hop Frog

- The Fall of the House of Usher

Gris Grimly is the illustrator and I adore his work. I actually love his work so much that I have decided to add him to my collection of rare books. At this point I only own one of his books, this one, but a collector must start somewhere.