Professional photos

The company I work for is launching their new website. Part of the website is a "People" page with our CVs and photos. They brought in a "professional" photographer to take our photos. I spent an hour (YES - a WHOLE hour) making sure my hair and makeup were presentable. An hour is a pretty big deal for me, with having a very limited amount of time to get ready in the morning before rushing to get Mitch to school. Every morning I run around packing Mitch's lunch and backpack, swearing "That's it - tonight I'm packing everything before we got to bed". Then every night I sit my ass on the couch, much like now, and surf the internet and watch AI (Go Adam!!) or Desperate Housewives, or Project Runway, or...well, you get the idea. Where was I? Right, the professional photographer. She had the fancy camera with the long lens and authoritative directives, "turn a little more to the left, lean forward, arms back, face down". That is about where it ended. How can someone who gets paid for doing this for a living take such horrible photos? We got the proofs today. I didn't get to choose which shot they are going to use. That's because my choice would have been to burn the lot. Over the years I've become an expert at having photos taken. I lift my chin up and to the side to e-l-o-n-g-a-t-e my neck for a slimming effect. Not in this photo. The photographer had me turn to the side from the hips, then lean forward, and tilt my head. The final result is something that resembles someone who has thrown their back out and is trying to find relief....with a triple chin. The photographer also kept saying "big smile big smile". I hate big smile. Some people do the big toothy grin well, I am not one of them. But she wouldn't let it go - BIG SMILE PLEASE. The only consolation is that everyone else looked just as heinous. The guy that sits next to me has a double chin in his photo, and he is totally fit and in shape. I'm really trying to blame the whole thing on the photographer. Then again, maybe I'm just not that photogenic.

When we were in Brisbane we came across a street performer making balloon animals for donations. Donation my ass; he quoted prices. I personally think he's figured out a way to skirt the tax laws. Anyways, Mitchell wanted an Alien so we "ordered" the Alien and $5.00 later Mitch walked away one happy boy. We packed the Alien for the trip home. However, when we got to Brisbane baggage screening they pulled the Alien out and announced that we couldn't take the balloon onboard with us. Something about security guidelines, and how it could freak people out if it popped during the flight. Whatever. I was too busy trying to quell the sobs of a five year old boy to listen to reason. So tell me, how does it feel to crush the dreams of a small boy Mr-Baggage-screener-man? Don was on the other side of the metal detector, while Mitch and I were still near the conveyor belt. What do you do in a situation like this? So I did the only thing I could think of on the fly. I gnawed holes in the tips of the alien and squeezed the air out of it. Unfortunately the sight of having the Alien deflated in front of him proved to be a wee bit more traumatic for Mitchell than I had anticipated. He started howling, and these huge bloopy tears came pouring out of his eyes. At this point with people backing up around us, I shoved the deflated Alien in my pocket, picked up Mitch and hoofed it through the metal detector. With the excitement of the airplane ride (and the giant bag of M&Ms) I guess Mitch forgot about the Alien. I was doing a load of laundry the other day and found the Alien. I just can't bring myself to throw him away.

Brisbane - Part IV - Lone Pine Koala Sancturay

We spent our last full day at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. It's a great little place about 45 minutes North of where my brother lives. Even though we had gone to a koala sanctuary where we first arrived in Sydney, it was no where as nice as Lone Pine. For example, at the koala park in Sydney when we bought kangaroo food it was a baggie of honey nut cheerios, seriously. I felt bad feeding the kangaroos the cheerios, since obviously it isn't part of their natural diet. And worse, because everyone pets the roos while feeding them, a large proportion of the roos in Sydney had cheerios stuck to their mangy fur. Not the best experience. However, Lone Pine was really an incredible place, the animals were really well taken care of, and it looked like the staff really cared about their welfare. This is one of the senior koalas, the look on his face is priceless, just kicking back chewing on a gum leaf.

Here we are feeding the kangaroos. And what do you know, it was kangaroo chow. I felt much better feeding them this time. Can you see the baby Chihuahua joey?

They also had lorikeet feeding. The lorikeets obviously know when the feeding times are; there were hundreds of them. There was no way to avoid them; I think Mitch got a little freaked out at one point. They also had a great Birds of Prey show. The birds flew right over our heads, and at one point one of the bird's wings even tipped Don's head. Don's loves this photo, I have to agree it's awesome.


They even had a demonstration with sheep and Border Collies. I really enjoyed it, but Mitch got bored pretty quickly. I think he would have preferred to run around with the dogs.
We found out that there was a 90 minute boat trip from the Sanctuary to the CBD, so we took that option at the last minute.

It was a great end to the trip, just a relaxing boat trip down the river. We met another couple visiting from San Francisco, she was American and he was Australian. We had a nice chat on the way back. Overall, just another great day in Brisbane... and a wonderful end to our trip.

Cadbury's new ad

Not sure if this commercial has made it to the US. Probably not, since Cadbury definitely doesn't have the same market share that it does here and in the UK. I'm not sure what to think. Some of you may already know how I feel about Cadbury, so I'll just follow my Nana's advice and not say anything at all. Except that the kids are really cute.

Brisbane - Part III - South Bank & the Museum

I got a little sidetracked this week. Mitch is on his second week of Easter Break. With him at home, Don and I have been tag teaming by working half shifts until he returns to school next week. I just caught myself today referring to it as Spring Break. What a maroon.... Anyways, I have a ton of photos from our Brisbane trip, so I thought I'd post about our trip to the Queensland Museum. Mitch loves Museums, and if it's hands on even better. He's a tough one to peg. He doesn't care for the aquarium or the zoo, but give him a museum and he's in heaven. We went to the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney and he kept asking to go back so we brought the annual membership. After that, I kept talking to other parents who said their kids get bored there. I don't tell people we have a membership, I feel like an anomaly. Like having a kid who hates candy, or begs to go to the dentist, or get a shot. But I digress. Anyways, Mitch was very excited to see this new museum. We spent about three hours there, and I think we did everything there was to do. Another plus - absolutely free to enter! Here are a few photos from our visit.

After the Museum we walked to SouthBank . I had been there when I visited in 1997 and I thought it was a great little place to walk and grab something to eat back then. I couldn't believe how much it had changed in ten years, I guess like most things. Mitch was dying to go on this gigantic Ferris Wheel. He wouldn't let up so I tried something new and just told him that we didn't have any money. It actually worked.

We also passed this incredible man made beach (sponsored by Streets Ice Cream) built between the river and the city. It's really beautiful, almost like an oasis. If we had brought our swimmers we would have gone for a dip.

We walked the other way back (along the backside of the beach) and ran into this play structure that was right out of a five year old's dreams. It was built over water, with tons of climbing rocks all around. Mitch asked right away if he could climb on the rocks since there were other kids doing it. At first we told him no, thinking that the kids had climbed over the fence or something to get to the rocks. But then I realized that the rocks were actually there to climb on. Mitch made some friends and hopped over the river and the rocks for close to an hour.

Someone slept well that evening.

I Have Arrived

I think that most people who know me, are aware that my mother's side of my family is Australian. My brothers were born in Australia, and both live in Brisbane. Even with those family ties, when Don originally told me that he wanted to move to Australia, I fought fiercely to remain in the States. I didn't want to come to Australia. I've always considered my home to be the US. I was born in the US, I was married in the US, and our children are American. I'm also a walking encyclopedia of useless American pop trivia - how could I not be American? But when we received a genuine scare a few weeks ago from Don's employer, I realized that it was time to take the final step, and file for Australian Citizenship by descent. We came here on a 457 Visa, which is a very quick way to come to Australia as a skilled employee. However, it is a temporary Visa, and if the position that the Visa holder comes over on becomes redundant, they are given 28 days to get out of the country. Pretty harsh, and a real gamble for those who choose that path. It's not just us. when I talked to Mitchell's headmaster and let him know what was going on (I needed him to sign my proof of identity) he told me that they had lost two 457 families in the last six months. Indeed, one of the boys was in Mitchell's class. Tough times. So, a few weeks ago I filed the paperwork for Australian Citizenship by Descent. On Tuesday I received a package from Immigration, with my certificate inside. I am now an Australian Citizen. It seems surreal. So much preparation, and yet, so anti-climatic. Next step is getting medical exams for Don and Mitchell so I can sponsor them for Family Visas. That way they are eligible for Medicare, and Don has the flexibility to work for any employer he likes. Oh, and I also have to register to Vote. It's mandatory for citizens to vote, which is just fine with me. In a few months we'll apply for Mitch's Citizenship, and he'll be an Aussie as well. At first it didn't really feel different. But as Anzac Day is approaching, it's starting to sink in a little. I feel a little more like I belong here, almost like an ownership of the country. Plus, I want our son to know his ancestry. And, really, what better way than to actually live in the place where is all began?

Brisbane Part 2

We spent six days in Brisbane so my next few posts will probably cover our trip. We arrived in Brisbane on Good Friday, which is a national Holiday along with the Monday following Easter. People really gear up for Easter here, and I think it has a lot to do with the fact that pretty much everyone (except retail) gets a four day weekend. It rained heavily the first few days of our trip, so we just ended up relaxing around the house. My brother and his wife live on a pseudo farm. They have five rolling acres, three horses, two dogs and a coop of chooks. So even though we didn't go anywhere, it was enough to keep Mitchell entertained. Here are their dogs Georgie the white Staffie, and Tom the Doberman. The dogs don't see many other humans so it took a little while to warm up. But, as you can see, they got used to Mitch pretty quickly, and vice versa.

We also met the resident chooks - I didn't get their names...


It was pretty warm during our trip, almost balmy. So Dad, Uncle David and Mitchell went for a few dips in the pool to cool down.

And finally, a spin on the John Deere....which, if you're a five year old boy, is the end all.