Thursday, December 24, 2009

a case of the hair

Shan is going to love this post - a whole post about my hair. And by love I mean hate and by hate I mean she might just divorce me unless I stop talking about it. But I can't! I'm one of those girls whose hair is more than just hair, it's part of who I am. And I like talking about it and I like talking to other people about it. Shan isn't one of those girls though. She generally keeps the same kinda hairstyle and doesn't really understand how changes to my hair can be so awesome and traumatic at the same time. She just says that my hair looks good in all styles and that I should just do what I want (which is why I love her so damn much!). But I don't know what I want. This has come up because I'm getting a haircut today, for the first time in several months and it's long enough to be cut into several different styles and I can't settle on one. So I'll give you a brief history of my hair and you can help me decide!

When I was a kid, I thought I was a boy for quite a long time. I had short hair, wore the boys school uniform and I asked my parents to change my name to Fred or Steve. At about 11 I got boobs and the boys started seeing me as a girl instead of their mate so I grew my hair out to look more like a girl and it stayed long for the next 14 years. When I came out, I seriously considered chopping it all off so I would look more 'gay' but I didn't, and I just became one of those lesbians with long hair who likes to wear heels and make-up. That's all well and good, until I realised I was being hit on because I had long hair and that the girls who said they liked me probably wouldn't like me so much if I cut my hair off. How do I know that? Because I asked them, and that's what they told me. After more than a few comments along those lines I seriously began considering cutting it all off again, feeling like it would be a very real kind of freedom. But I'd had long hair for so long now, and had let it be part of how I knew myself, so I was really hesitant.

Two years ago, at a Christmas party, this is how I looked.

6 months later, I met Shan and this photo was taken on our first proper date.

My hair stayed the same for a couple of months into our relationship. Anyone with long hair knows that when it's hot, your hair always just ends up in a ponytail. Living in Queensland, my hair was ALWAYS in a ponytail.


One day, Shan and I were discussing getting haircuts and I mentioned that I wanted to do soemthing different, really different, but I didn't know what. We talked through all different styles, looked at many many websites and finally I decided that if I was going to cut it shorter, then I was going to have to go the whole way and just cut it really short, the way I had wanted for years. Shan, of course, was totally supportive and said that if I wanted to, I should just do it. I did want to, but I was scared. I was actually scared Shan could stop loving me if she didn't like my haircut. Sounds stupid now, but if you've ever dated someone who comments on the way you look every single day, pointing out your flaws (even if you now realise you don't have any ;) ), then you can understand how I could feel like that. But she promised to say I look awesome, so I did it!

And I LOVED it! Not only was it awesome to have hair that could be washed, dried and styled in 10 minutes, I did actually love looking more gay AND I noticed guys stopped hitting on me - a totally unexpected plus!


So my hair was short for quite a while and it looked all sorts of different ways, depending on how long I'd spent on it.

I liked it liked this... I won a lifetime membership to our local gay bar, The Beat, in this outfit.
Long, long sideburns.
mo-hawk!

THEN, I decided, after a not-so-good haircut, that I would grow my hair out again. So 'The Zefron' started happening. But I couldn't handle it, so before we left for Canada, I cut it all off again and was really stoked with the cut. I arrived in Vancouver feeling cool with my 'do.

BUT again, I decided to grow it out and figured that Vancouver is good place to do it as it's much cooler and that makes it much easier to deal with long hair. So the growing out began again...
See my little pony?!
So long!
By the time of our wedding, I had long hair. Well, I think it's long, Shan just laughs when I say it.
And now, 2 months later, this is where we're at. When my hair gets long, my two cowlicks prevent my hair from parting anywhere but in the middle. I also have curls at the sides of my head which show up when I have long hair. So it gets all kinky and middle-parted.
Which is fine when it's really long, but this in-between sucks.
And this is how it looks this morning. Long on one side.
short on the other.
and just all in my face.
Shan has picked out one hairstyle I am going to try, which we think my assist in the growing out more stylishly than it is. But then do I even want to grow it out? I don't know! Maybe I should just shave it and buy a bunch of wigs? If anyone has any suggestions for haircuts that would suit me, please write. I need help!!!

seriously, Shan is going to love this post...

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

It's Christmas!!

well... it's almost Christmas! And as of today, both Shan and I are on Christmas holidays. I know we only just had 3 months off, but damn it feels good to have another 2.5 weeks to do nothing but hang out with friends and work on all our little projects!

This is my project for the next couple of weeks:


cool eh? I found it at Milena's folks place last weekend, in amongst some long grass and pieces of wire fencing. The rims were too rusted to save, but the rest is still ok and I plan to retore it to its former gloriousness! I'm thinking bottle green for the frame, black for the handle bars and brown leather for the seat and grips. Now where do I find a sandblaster...?

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

my new old job

I've been re-employed! Which means now I'll get paid over Christmas, and also we can start saving for a mortgage (which is our new goal by the by). So happy!

paddleboat captain

December 8: We were on the train home tonight when the driver announced that "Control's system has shut down and needs to be re-booted, they've lost our train". That happened twice which meant sitting at different stations for 10 minutes each - booooooooring. So we ate Christmas shortbread and daydreamed about the new house we plan to buy.December 7: Spider Zanne!
December 6: Celebrating my Aunty's birthday!
We had a family lunch on a big paddleboat and there were cute photos of us taken but they're on another camera so I'll have to upload those later...
Shan

lesbian zombies

December 5: Here we are, lesbian zombies, at our friend's late Halloween Party December 4: Hanging with some of our most fave peeps at Dave and Zoe's place
December 3: My new shoes have received many comments - cos they're awesome obviously!
Clothing is a hot topic with Zanne and I lately: Zanne's workplace has a corporate dress code, which requires more thought and preparation than she's used to, and I have to cover my tattoos at work, which means I'm sweating in the Brisbane heat!
As a result of the corporate and sweaty situations we have gotten ourselves into, we're both realising that skirts might be the answer (eek!). I'm now vowing to learn to sew so we can wear cool, vintage, quirky skirts at least.
December 2: We received our marriage certificate!
And my Mum framed it for us immediately :-)
Shan

Friday, December 4, 2009

up-to-date!

Well, clearly our little blog has been a bit neglected lately. Sorry dudes, we’ve been so busy with settling back in at home that blogging has taken a backseat. Both of us started jobs the very day after we arrived home so it has taken us a few weeks to get ourselves sorted with work, money, new car, commuting, family stuff, etc. We’re back on track though, especially now that we’ve resolved our no-internet situation with some wifi (woot!).

So, blogging friends, how are you all? I’ve had such little contact with the internet lately that I haven’t even been able to keep up with your up-to-dates (*pout*). I have been lucky enough to return to my old job (on contract), however while Zanne and I were in Vancouver my employer decided to become super-strict on internet usage, which is very inconvenient for me – don’t they know I want to blog and such?! (For the record my job is very un-busy and I generally have a half day’s work to stretch across a whole day… Now that I can’t use the internet I’ve taken to playing solitaire. Shhh! Don’t tell anyone). Anyways, here are some brief up-to-dates for us:

Home

It’s great to be home. Quite a few people have made comments such as: “I’m sorry your travels didn’t work out the way you wanted” (ie. a few years in Vancouver), but we’re honestly not even thinking like that. We’re just proud of ourselves for giving it a go. Now we never have to wonder what it would have been like to make the move to Vancouver cos we tried it and our timing was off (not only in terms of the economy…). I know when we reflect on our travels now we think of our 3 months of fun and feel very lucky to have had such an extended honeymoon.

Zanne and I are living with my parents again. My Mum spoils us both, so of course we love it there! Given that we have credit cards to pay off and are now planning to save and buy our very own home, my poor parents will likely be stuck with us for the next year. They enjoy having us around – or so they says! – but we’re still planning frequent camping trips next year to give us all time by ourselves.

The only problem with living with my parents is that they live way out in the ‘burbs, which means an hour+ commute each way to work. We’ve given up on trying to drive to work (sitting in traffic s*cks!) and are now catching the train, which is surprisingly bearable – and will be more so once we buy a lovely new, fast, small and light laptop to pass the time with.

Jobs

As I’ve said, Zanne and I both started work the day after we landed home.

Zanne applied for jobs while we were still in Canada, had some skype interviews while on our honeymoon and, after a bit of negotiation, was employed by a small company in Milton as a Brand Manager – she said it was a bit odd to start a job without having met anyone or having visited the office. It turns out her new job is a bit fabulous – she has her own office (with a door!), a parking space and her own team reporting to her. Guess what her team’s name is? Team Alpha… that’s right, Zanne heads up the A Team! Ha! The job comes with a bit of stress and not enough money, but hopefully those things will sort themselves out – especially cos Zanne is already her boss’ fave (of course!).

I’m back at my old job, currently on contract until 18 December. I work in the public service so I can’t simply be made a permanent member of staff, I have to re-apply and re-interview for my own job. It’s totally stoopid, and there’s so much office politics involved that I actually won’t be disappointed if I’m not re-employed. That being said though, this job is so easy and has such awesome working conditions that re-applying was a no-brainer. My interview is next Tuesday so fingers crossed!

Christmas

Christmas is another reason I’m happy to be home – cos what’s Christmas Day without fam?! Zanne and I brought everyone small gifts while we were on our honeymoon and I’m so excited to hand them all out! We won’t be doing much on the Christmas break, partly because it will be too effing hot and partly cos it’s gonna take a couple of months for us to have money to spend again (honeymoon = credit card debt), however we’ll likely have quite a bit of wine time with our friends I think – oh yeah! There has been mention of buying a kids’ swimming pool for backyard summertime lounging – we’re all class! – but no decision has been made in that regard. No doubt said pool would provide some funny stories though – probably all sunburn related!
Until next time!
Shan

how we gonna get it? fight for it!

December 1: Dinner and a show with our most radical friends, CasslinaNovember 30: Sunset over the fence, with the fam
November 29: You know how I complain about the heat a lot? Well this is why... it was 38 degrees and super humid today! See the storm brewing? It was building all day and made things so unbearable that Zanne and I drove to the store just so we could enjoy their air con!
November 28: Today we attended another Same Sex Marriage Rally in Bris-Vegas. We even took Noah along and he clapped for his civil rights. Zanne gave a speech at the rally which was totally effing awesome - I will ask her to post it on here actually.
Shan

calling all toilet bloggers

November 27: I've lodged my application with the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages to officially change my last name (to Zanne's name). Unfortunately, because Australia doesn't recognise our marriage I can't use our marriage certificate to change my name (because they won't issue us such a certificate!). As a result I have to pay to go through the Change of Name application process. In any case, I'm pretty excited to have my new name made official!November 26: I sent Zanne her fave flowers today cos we've now been married for one month today (yay)!
November 25: I came across this news story today in some local streetpress, which is funny cos when we were in New York we saw the Charmin Open Call. There were hundreds of people in the line, all excited and interestingly dressed, and we thought it odd that everyone was so keen to be involved with toilet paper... Toilet bloggers, who knew?
Zanne in New York on November 5
Shan

in skin tight tights

November 24: Here's my besty Kelly. She such a rad besty that she gave me a free ticket to see Tori Amos tonight. It was my first Tori show - I wasn't quite prepared for all the sexy!
November 23: Remember yesterday when I mentioned sun? Well, here is little Zanne suffering with a bit of burn!
November 22: Pics of Zanne and various peace signs...
A breakfast bbq with friends, skateboarding, sun and washing our new car.
November 21: Pics of our nephew Noah - sleeping next to Grandad, general playing and learning the Shane Warne flipper. This is likely how Noah will be dressed (undressed?) all summer - nappy, sunglasses, thongs, hat and sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen. If only I could do the same... except for the nappy of course.
Shan

home!

November 20: Zanne's new job includes a carspace - woot! She only drives in occasionally (when she has meetings out of the office), but it's radical nonetheless.November 19: We're now regular train commuters. At least they're air conditioned!
November 18: On Zanne's desk...
Zanne took some photos to work to personalise her office. What a cutie.

November 17: We got a new car today!
I've lost our car photo though - I'll replace it over the weekend


November 16: Back to work...
I've been lucky enough to return to my old job. My Co-ordinator made sure my email address and telephone were updated at work to reflect my new married name - so thoughtful!
November 15: The raddest welcome home ever! Complete with signs and cordial.

Shan

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

L.A. inked

November 14: I don’t actually have a photo from today as we “skipped” it – which happens when you fly from the US to Aus. If I had taken a photo though, it would have looked something like this:

November 13: To celebrate our last day abroad we returned to Venice Beach, cos we liked it that much. Zanne got herself a skateboard deck that had the word “Venice” on it in graffiti-style writing (we have started collecting skateboard decks for art – we received a vintage deck for our engagement party). Noah insisted on carrying said deck for Zanne (who is his most favourite person ever I think, he is her little shadow), which got him a lot of cute comments from passersby.
The day was all over too soon though because, before we knew it, we were at LAX and Zanne and Noah were exchanging smiles with Alanis Morissette.Homeward bound!
November 12: Today we had a chilled out day in Venice Beach and Santa Monica. We caught a bus to Venice Beach and walked slowly back to Santa Monica Pier along Muscle Beach.
Venice Beach is rad! We all loved the vibe there, and all spent up big on souvenirs courtesy of the local vendors.
We had dinner at Johnny Rockets where Zanne was determined to win a Betty Boop doll for Noah out of one of those vending machine things with a claw.
We have video footage of the whole saga – first it was Zanne vs Machine, then it was Owner vs Machine, then it was Waiter vs Machine. It was our waiter who eventually won the doll – using his tips – and he kindly passed it on to Noah.
The finale of the epic battle inspired applause from the entire restaurant – it was hilarious! We’ll post a link for the video once Zanne has uploaded it to youtube.

November 11: Today we did a sightseeing bus tour of Santa Monica and Hollywood. It was kind of a non-event cos there really isn’t anything to see in Hollywood if you ask me.
However – EXCITING! – Zanne and I sought out Kat Von D’s High Voltage Tattoo Shop in West Hollywood (we’re big fans of LA Ink) and got ourselves some cheesy honeymoon tattoos.
We had actually planned on getting said tattoos in Venice Beach but we were all “when in Rome”.The funny thing is, when we first started dating we had joked about getting tattoos at “LA Ink”. I love that we make things happen. I think we’re cool.
November 10: Day one in LA, a.k.a Disneyland. I’ll be honest, when we made plans to take our nephew to Disneyland it was with him in mind, I didn’t really think we’d enjoy it much. Man, were we wrong - Disneyland was so fun! We didn’t have time to see everything and we didn’t go on too many rides cos we only went on the ones Noah could go on (Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Buzz Lightyear, Roger Rabbit, Pinocchio, Pirates of the Caribbean, Winnie the Pooh, Finding Nemo) but no matter, being there made us feel like kids again. I loved Toon Town – it made us feel like we were in a cartoon. And we all loved meeting Mickey Mouse – ha!Zanne and I are already making plans to take our future children there :-)November 9: We rode the Greyhound from San Francisco to LA – never again! The 8 hour bus ride didn’t bother us, it was the other passengers. Let’s just say some of our fellow passengers were talking to themselves and some couldn’t afford luggage. Oh well, you live and learn.We eventually met up with Shannon and Noah at our radical hotel, The Comfort Inn in Santa Monica, just in time to have Mexican for dinner. Nice one.
Shan

Time in Vancouver:

 
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