wrap it up

We shipped 3 suitcases of our stuff back to Brisbane today. We leave Vancouver next Monday - at which time we will have been married for 1 week, at which time we begin our 2 week honeymoon.

When we return to our sunburnt country (read: country of sunburn), we will have been off work for 12 weeks, I will have consumed at least 84 coffees, and Zanne will have watched The Hills, The City, Peak Season, The Office, Disaster Date and Parental Control about eleventy-billion times each.

It feels like we've been here in Vancouver much longer than we have... In fact it feels like we've had about 5 years in 1 this year!

Many hours later:

I’d love to finish this train of thought but I’m tired and busy and am having trouble articulating… Basically we’re busy with organising last minute details of our honeymoon, as well as those of our return home (inc: Zanne has been interviewing via skype and I’m in contact with my previous employer). We’re yet to arrange a proper exit of our friends’ apartment, as well as ensure Shan and Noah (who are staying in Vancouver an extra week without us) are comfortable and, most of all, won’t get lost.

There’s a lot to think about, but that’s the fun of it I suppose. I did intend to write about how much we’ve enjoyed Vancouver and what we’ve learned here, but I think I’ll leave that for another (more clear-headed) day.

Peace out peeps.

my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard

So apparently this is what happens when an 18mth old drinks his own body weight in chocolate milkshake:

From chilled out to psycho in one milkshake!

Shan

NANA-NANA-NANA BATMAN!

October 29: Noah visited the library today for some story time. Aw!

October 28: There's not much to do on rainy days except sit around admiring our nephew's hardcore cuteness. Do you see the bottom right pic?!

October 27: The day after our wedding and it was a lovely sunny day. We were all so stoked with the sun that we spent the entire day walking around Stanley Park - literally, we walked about 8kms!

Shan

like a fat kid and cake...

October 26: Our wedding day.
Enough said!

Mrs. Shan

remember way back when, like before we were married?

October 25: The day before our wedding!
We purchased our big red balloon (for wedding photos) and Noah helped his Aunty Zanne make some delicious pancakes. It was a very chill pre-wedding day!

October 24: Noah and I had so much colour time he had to have a little lie down :-)

October 23: So we went to Granville Island and Noah threw his gumboots in the lake. Oops.

October 22: Breakfast, sightseeing and Halloween costumes...

Shan

Team Michaels - est. 26.10.2009

i do!

We're getting married today. In 8.5 hours to be exact. And I am surprisingly calm. Maybe it's because we're having such a small get together and there aren't any last minute arrangements to be made? Or maybe it's because I love Shan so much that this just feels like the most perfect thing we've ever done? I think it's the latter.

Sorry for not posting more about our arrangements for the wedding! We literally pulled it together in less than a week, and since there isn't much to it, we wanted to keep it a bit of a surprise. We've actually put together 1/3 of our wedding video already and will insert a bunch of pictures from today and post it as soon as we can.

It's raining in Vancouver today. It was supposed to be clear but it's raining and isn't supposed to clear up until tonight. But that's ok, we bought umbrellas and wouldn't let a little thing like rain stop us from having fun. Our plan for the day is breakfast here at home with Shan and Noah, then we'll get ready and our photographer will be here at midday. We're going to do a bunch of photos in our 'hood, then we'll go into the city and take some more before meeting everyone at the chinese gardens at 3pm. Our nuptials need to be all over by 4pm as the gardens close then and we can head over to the mexican restaurant for dinner and sangria.

I'm really excited to be married, and I'm not even one of those people who always wanted to be married. I never imagined I'd have a white wedding, and always thought that if I found 'the one', I wouldn't care if we got married or not. I just always wanted to be in love. I used to dream about what it would feel like to really fall in love and I'd wonder if I would ever find the person who I knew I wanted to be with forever and they would feel the same. With Shan, for the first time in my whole life, I know what it is to be loved unconditionally. To have someone know everything about me and still love me. I found the person who I know will always stand beside me, support me, encourage me, defend me, humour me, and love me and I don't know if she'll ever realise how much that really means to me. And now, having found that, I want to marry Shan so we can always know we're stuck together ("like magnets," shan said. "Like liquid nails," I countered). and I'm going to love her 'til my heart, or the world, explodes.

fruitcup

Oh the JOY! Shan and Noah arrived today and brought the BEST gift a girl in a foreign country could ask for: Fruit Cup Cordial!!! (Read about me and cordial here). I'm rationing it so it lasts until the day we leave. Oh how I love it! And how I love my lovely soon-to-be wife who asked Shan to bring it over. This is why I'm marrying her! x

beluga vs. crocodile

October 21: Our sister-in-law Shan and our nephew Noah arrived from Australia today!
Who knew an 18 month old with jetlag could look this good?! Seriously, the kid had about 3 hours sleep in 2 days and look at him!

I certainly wasn't laughing and jumping in a pile of leaves when I made the same trip, just sayin'. October 20: Oh my goodness, this was hilarious...

So, Zanne got a package today. The packaging was torn a little bit, showing something red inside. We immediately assumed it was her wedding tee and grabbed the camera to capture the moment (cos that's what we do).
The two images on the left show Zanne confidently posing and showing off what we still believe to be her wedding tee.
The two images on the right show her reaction when she discovered it was a tee shirt sent to her from Cheerios (she had completed an order form on the back of a cereal box weeks and weeks ago - we'd both forgotten about it!). There was much pouting before it was forcefully flung to the ground. And then we laughed and laughed.

October 19: We met with our wedding photographer today - exciting, exciting!

October 18: Another Sunday stroll to Granville Island and more Fall photos.
Zanne enjoyed some delicious cake and some local seagulls (they are the size of small children over here!) tried to eat us.

October 17: How many lesbians does it take to change a lightbulb? One.

Shan

the exclusive invitation

We've been super busy with details of our wedding, honeymoon and return home so blogging has taken a bit of a back seat this week. However, we wanted to share this with you:

Shan

music in utero

We went to the Chinese Gardens yesterday. We wanted to get a feel for the place, confirm it was the right setting for our wedding. We ended up loving it and wandered around taking photos and smiling widely. At one point though, I started to reflect on our money situation (you know, cost of wedding, cost of honeymoon, credit cards, unemployment, etc) and I started to feel a bit anxious. At that exact moment I looked up and saw this:

Click on the image to enlarge it. The building says: EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT.

I'm not kidding! I could hardly believe it!! I almost did a two-handed eye rub like in the cartoons, instead though I swore out loud and brought it to Zanne's attention.

What makes this even more unbelievable is that long ago we named Bob Marley's song 3 Little Birds our "family song". Whenever one of us is feeling down for whatever reason the other always sings the chorus: don't worry about a thing, cos everything little thing is gonna be alright.

Spinny right??

Shan

dum dum da dum

October 16: I'm obsessed with the Fall. We don't really have seasons in Brisbane so the leaves changing and falling are a huge novelty for us. The colours are just so pretty!

October 15: Today was so very exciting!! We found some locations for wedding photos, ordered our wedding cupcakes, confirmed our reception/dinner reservation and decided where we'll exchange our vows - how beautiful are the Chinese gardens?!

October 14: Breakfast at Bon's in the Fall - look at those leaves!

October 13: Here I am on the Skytrain with a box of Huggies for our nephew Noah. We also got him a beanie and mittens and a jacket and gumboots - we're just so excited that he is visiting us!

Shan

hello purple

So guess what? You know how Zanne and I are getting married in 9 days? Well, guess who is traveling half way around the world to be with us on our special day?? My sister-in-law Shan and our nephew Noah! Yeppers the infamous Noah! We are going to kiss his cheeks off when we see him!!!!! Apparently he is talking now too, saying words like purple and turtle. Very useful words, I agree.
They arrive next Wednesday and are staying a couple of weeks, we will all depart LA together on November 13. Zanne and I are beside ourselves over this news!! We feel so lucky, so loved.

Shan

PS. How cool is Shan: she is a single Mum and is going to travel by herself with a 1yr old and luggage and is not even phased by all of that. If there was a Shan fan page on Facebook we'd be the first to sign up, just sayin'.

to the front, to the back, to the seesaw side

October 12: Just before Zanne and I hopped on a Greyhound to return home to Vancouver (which ended up being a 9hr journey - don't even get me started!), we had some playtime at a local park. It was a beautiful Fall morning.October 11: Today we visited a petting zoo on the coldest Fall morning on record for Penticton (-7.8). Zanne and I giggled like school girls at the zoo - so fun! And then we planned to buy a zoo - or at least rabbits - when we get home to Australia.

We also visited a market that had massive pumpkins and got some baby-time in with our friends' baby, Alex.

October 10: Our first day in the Okanagan included a public market and visits to some wineries.

October 9: Pics from our drive to the Okanagan (4hrs?). The scenery was beautiful! And the snow on the side of the road was quite a buzz for Zanne and I.

Shan

if we were water we'd be ice right now

We're in the Okanagan for the weekend and right now it is 10am, sunny and -1c. That's below freezing. What the heck?!

the girl versions

Jason Mraz and Bon Scott?

if we can't be happy friends

We were on the skytrain the other day when Zanne started singing a Michael Bolton song we'd just heard in London Drugs - except she had the lyrics slightly wrong...

Zanne: "How can we be lovers if we can't be happy friends..."

Me: "It's not happy friends, it's just friends"

Zanne: "No, he sings: how can we be lovers if we can't be [pause] ha-ppy friends..."

Me: [Laugh so hard I cry] "No, no. It's just: can't be [pause], can't be friends. He repeats the can't be...

Zanne: No, it's not... [confused/embarrassed]. Well happy friends sounds better anyways.

Me: Ba-ha-ha!

the onesie strikes back

October 8: This Thanksgiving long weekend we are off to the Okanagan for the Fall Wine Festival with our friends Fan and Trav. We're staying overnight tonight at Mumsie's place to lessen the hours and hours of driving. Here is Trav rocking Zanne's onesie.October 7: Today we purchased our marriage license, wedding bands and wedding shoes - can I get an O.M.G?!October 6: Today was consumed by research for our wedding and honeymoon - which requires two laptops of course.October 5: Today our stuff arrived from Australia. Coincidently, this was also the day we decided to head home to Bris Vegas. Funny.October 4: Check out all those motorbikes on the left, then check out all the cops at Starbucks ha!!  Zanne liked the cool kid jumping over the bikes with his skateboard.October 3: Today we went to a Qmunity  Volunteers bbq. It was  a sunny but chilly day!! The bbq was a lot of fun - we met a lesbian couple who have been together over 30 years. Very cool.Shan

an explanation

So I thought I would add a little extra explanation since the email we sent to family was quite short.

The first thing I should say is the decision to leave Canada was the hardest we've had to make as a couple. We'd been planning this trip for almost a year, went through pain, sweat and tears to get here, and then when things worked out so well when we first arrived we thought it had all been worth it. But over the last few weeks we've learnt a lot about ourselves and come to realise the reasons why, right now, it's better or us to be in Australia...

Were not 23 year old backpackers anymore.
Shan and I have both lived O/S before and for each of us it was a life-changing experience filled with great highs and lows. As much as we made friends we'll have forever and saw things we'll never forget, we also worked jobs we didn't like just to get by, got homesick, had to go through problems without the support of family and friends, and then finally went home knowing we were stronger people, but not ever really wanting to go through some of those experiences again. So over the last few weeks as we've struggled to find work, we've come to the conclusion that at this point in our lives we're not willing to compromise our lifestyle. We had a great life at home, with good jobs, a great apartment and friends we adore and we just want to go back to that. We're getting married and wanting to start a family in the next couple of years and we realise now that although we don't expect everything to be roses and to fall into place when we go home, we have our family to support us and industry contacts that will surely make getting our life started much easier.

Family is the most important thing
We have nephews and a niece we're missing like crazy, and mums, dads, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends we love like family, who are all doing things that we want to be there for and to be a part of. We knew we would miss them, but didn't realise how much of an effect leaving everyone would have on us this time around. Plus, after completing our exciting dream of moving to Canada, we realised that what we really want is to settle down and have our babies. We want the house with a backyard, and Saturday sports, and camping trips with the McFarlane's and Devereaux's, and Christmas's packed with cousins, and birthdays where Uncle Michael buys expensive t-shirts every three year old just has to have. So as much as we were possibly willing to compromise on jobs and salaries, we weren't willing to compromise on making our dream of having a family come true.

I actually want a career right now, not just a job.
Before we left Australia, I felt like I'd finally started making headway in actually having a career and not just a job. With PR being an industry based on media contacts and relationships that can take years to build up, its not the kind of job you can just leave and pick up in another country. I found that when I went to London and I knew it would be the same coming here. With the job market so slow, not only is it hard to get any job in the industry right now, if I did find a job I knew full well that there was a very real chance I would have to take a step back, both in salary and position, just to get a foot in the door. So when this new discussion of a great opportunity at home came up, I felt like it was reminding me how important my career is, for me and our future family. The opportunity at home isn't set in stone, and we're still only discussing options, but if things work out we'll be in a better position in a few months time than we would in a few years staying here. And if this opportunity doesn't work out, then at least I have local contacts and local knowledge that will make it far easier to land a good job sometime in the future. And since we can stay with family until we get set up again, the pressure is off and we won't need to take any job that is offered just to get by.

We want permanency
Maybe it's because we're both girls, but there's some serious 'nesting' feelings going on right now. We want to find a house and stay there, we want to find jobs and stay there, we want to buy things and not think about how well they're going to fit in boxes the next time we move countries. We've both been moving countries for more than 5 years and we just want to stop. We want to take regular vacations and not save every cent for a big move every couple of years. We want to make regular life plans and not have to worry about settling in over and over again. I want our red rug back!!!

So that's all the things we thought about and the things that ultimately helped us to make our decision. We've had a really great time here and will make sure the next few weeks are filled with fun and happiness, but then we will come home and be totally satisfied and ready to get on with the rest of our lives. As our friend Peta reminded us - You gotta know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em! The best thing is we will have no regrets. We would have regretted not coming. But we wanted to do it, we did it, and now we want something else, so we're going to do that.

PLUS now we get to get married this month! We're so excited! We already feel like we've been together forever and know that we'll always want to be together, so it's super exciting to get to have our best Canadian friends with us while we get hitched in the most perfect way. Our plan was to always get married in Canada, no matter how briefly we were here so now we have about 3 weeks to pull it together. We're still confirming details and will post more info once we've locked a few things in. AND we get to go on the most awesome honeymoon - New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco - what's not fantabulous about that?!

a slight change in plans...

an email that we sent to family about 3 hours ago...

Hello family, how's it going?

I'm writing with a bit of an announcement... we've had a change of plans... involving returning to Brisbane. The thing is, the job search hasn't gone so well. We've both been looking down the barrel of $12/hr admin jobs, which is not only a step back in our careers, but is also hard to live on!! The difficulty has to do with the job market, as well as our lack of local knowledge.

Anyways, I guess we had both begun to think that we'd stick it out for 6 months (the period of tenancy agreement) and just enjoy our time here - well, until yesterday when Zanne was offered an amazing opportunity with her former Director (great pay, a step forward in her career). It's an opportunity that is too hard to pass up really, especially when we were already thinking we'd be home soon anyway.

It's a little bit disappointing that things have been so short here, however it's not as if we haven't traveled or lived overseas before. We were here hoping for a better life - but $12/hr won't get us there! Vancouver is an amazing, inspiring city and we don't want to get all bitter and twisted about it you know?

But really the point of us coming here was to be legally married... so guess what? Over the next week or so we're going to organise ourselves a small wedding here in Vancouver, before honeymooning in New York, San Francisco and L.A. So, even though, things haven't worked out the way we had hoped, we're still the luckiest girls in the world :-)

The dates of everything are not officially official yet however we'll likely be home for mid-November as Zanne has to start work.

Stay tuned for wedding pics!

Shazanne xo

do you wanna do me with this hair? you can call me Russell...

'Holy crap!' said Shan when she saw that I'd actually opened our blog to write something. I've been wanting to blog, I really have! But the last few weeks have pretty much been spent sitting on the couch and applying for jobs and doing assignments etc etc (and maybe watching Kath & Kim etc etc), and that's not really interesting enough to blog about - I don't think so anyway. But then Shan reminded me that we have had a few things happening and I need to update everyone.

On the job front - Shan had another job interview this week, which she finds out about tomorrow. It would be a great job (good money, 6 month contract, possibility of a permanent position after contract) and we're both hoping she gets it, but we're not holding our breathe. We don't want to get our hopes up but we're still thinking positive. If it doesn't happen, she'll start talking to a few more recruitment agencies and see what comes of that.

For me, it's still very quiet. I managed to pick up some freelance work, which is good and it could become an ongoing thing, but I'm still definitely looking for fulltime work. We both need to be employed fulltime if we want to apply for permanent residency in a couple of years. I applied for one position I'd really really like, so fingers and toes.. again. I'm also catching up with a PR manager of a big agency on Wednesday, thanks to a hook-up from the lovely MC. In the meantime I'm keeping busy with various online projects and there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to do them, so most of the time I'm secretly happy we have all day at home.

It was also great when we had Peta and Martin visit this week. They were wonderful guests and we had a good time showing them the few cool places we know in Vancouver. Peta and I actually know each other from forever ago. I went to primary school with Peta's younger brother and I used to have sleepovers at their house when Mitch and I were like 8 years old. I always remembered her as Mitch's older, much more mature sister. When we were 10 and talking about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, she was 15 and listening to Nirvana. It was nice to catch up and chat about old times, even if Shan and Martin had no idea what we were talking about.


On Saturday we went to the Qmunity Volunteer BBQ and met some cool peeps. We're both looking forward to getting involved with the GBLT community here. It was a beautiful sunny day that was bitterly cold! We both committed to wearing many layers and carrying gloves with us everywhere we go from now on.

This weekend we're heading out to Mumsie's for a Thanksgiving dinner, before going to the Okanagan for a wine festival with Fan and Trav. Fan, in all her brilliance, managed to snag us a really great deal on an apartment for the weekend so that means more mullah for wine and cheese!

We're missing our friends and family and hope you're all doing good. We talk about everyone all the time and about all the fun stuff we did before we left. As much as we hope to make great friends while we're here, we also hope to pick right up where we left of with the friends we have at home when we eventually make it back there.

at least we're really. really good looking

October 2: We had lunch today at the Fountainhead on Davie and were joined by this little guy. He was a little fatty! He ate the whole top of a sunflower and didn't care who saw it.
PS. Peta and Martin left us today to continue their West Coast roadtrip - we're incredibly jealous and wish them well... If only they'd update their blog so we could be kept in the loop...

October 1: Zanne, Peta and Martin enjoyed the Canucks first (hockey) game of the season at our friends' place - I was absent cos I was at my photog class :-(
Here our friends' little boy in his very own Canucks jersey - KEWSH!
PS. Unfortunately the Canucks lost to the Calgary Flames 5-3

September 30: We have had visitors this week - woo! Peta and Martin are on a 7 month backpacking adventure and we were lucky enough to share some wine time with them.

September 29: A photo of the skytrain tunnel, and the reflection of the skytrain (and Zanne) in its window.

September 28: Eek! The rain is here... Where did the mountains go?!

Shan