The Shazanne Show

we're moving..

2011-03-13T13:54:00.002+10:00

Hey folks! Since I use wordpress for blogs for work etc, I've decided to move this one over there. You can catch us at - http://theshazanneshow.wordpress.com/

I'll leave this one up for a while, but all new posts will be going there!

8 months.. wow.

2011-03-13T12:43:00.004+10:00

It's been 8 months since our last post - can you believe it? That time has just disappeared! After coming back from Canada, I think we felt like we needed a little break from it but decided this morning to jump back on the blogwagon. So here we are!

To catch up on the last 8 months, here's a quick list of what we've been up to:

We bought a house

We renovated a house

Shan got a promotion

Zanne did a copywriting course and got accepted into AWARD School

We have a new nephew

We have a new pseudo-niece

We're in our first lesbian bridal party next month

Our website, My Big Gay Wedding, went live

Shan's tattoo sleeve is almost completed

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary with anniversary tattoos

Zanne's in a band (we rock HARD! ;)

That's all the big stuff I think. I'll do a post about the house after this one, since it's a pretty huge deal for us.

Back to day to day stuff - Shan is training for the Bridge to Brisbane, a 10km fun run that takes place in September. She's currently running about 4.5km in 30 minutes and is working up to the full 10km. She has 6 months to get ready. I'll be walking with the babies and old ladies.

We've also been trying to get out and enjoy our own backyard a little more with camping trips and bushwalking. This morning we went bushwalking with our friend Ange and her 6 week old baby girl Audra. She was lovely and slept the whole 9km/2 hours.

Exciting news! While we were walking this morning, Shan's mum called and Shan's brother's wife is in labour! So we're now eagerly awaiting the arrival of their little guy. Hopefully he'll come sometime this afternoon so we can see him before the weekend is over.

So that's us kinda up to date. I'll do a quick post after this about our new house. Chat soon!

house full of estrogen

2010-07-12T14:31:00.003+10:00

So, we haven't talked about her much, but our puppy Nacho is 8 months old now and she has suffered with separation anxiety ever since we first took her home. This has been pretty hard to deal with sometimes, especially when her anxiety has caused her to:

* cry non-stop for no apparent reason for hours on end

* cry so much during the night that she ended up sleeping in our bedroom

* get so upset when we'd leave for work it sounded like she was being stabbed

* rip up the newspaper we'd left down for her 'mess' while we were at work resulting in 'mess' all over the laundry

* scratch a huge hole in our couch

After talking with every semi-expert friend we could, the feedback we kept getting was, "she's a companion dog, she needs a companion". We really didn't want another dog, thinking it could end up being double the trouble, but after trying everything else we figured we needed to give it a go. After doing our research we decided to adopt an adult Golden Retriever. We figured Nacho needed guidance on how to be a big girl and a bigger dog would offer her a sense of protection.

On Saturday we picked up the new addition to our family, the lovely Bailey. She's 7 years old and is a purebred Goldie whose owner died 6 months ago leaving her with her daughter, who could no longer take care of her. They were really lovely people and we've committed to keeping them informed of how Bailey is doing in our home.

Bailey is just gorgeous! She's beautiful looking and has a really awesome, relaxed personality. We're both in love with her and so far she and Nacho are getting along well. Nacho is still a bit nuts but we're hoping time and Bailey will help her settle down.

Shan and Bailey on the day she came home with us.

Chillin in the backyard

Nap time

And, just cos she's so damn cute - our little Nacho trying to eat a bone that's bigger than she is.

they call her 'the painted woman'

2010-07-04T05:46:00.005+10:00

A few months ago, my lovely wife decided she wanted to get her half sleeve tattoo extended to a 3/4 or full sleeve. She got in contact with her cool tattooist, Tim, and yesterday we went in for the first session.

Seriously, Shan is wayyyyy tougher than she looks!! She sat for 3.5 hours and had all of the outline and some of the shading on her forearm done, including the inside and outside of her ELBOW - the most painful spots to get a tattoo. She'll need another 1 or 2 sessions to complete it but it looks incredible so far. Tim is a genuis. Oh, and when we mentioned we'd seen him at the Tegan & Sara concert, he said he was there at their request and was asked backstage by them because they want him to tattoo them next time they're in town. Yuh, as if we didn't already think he was super cool.

blood...

a lucky lunch with family

2010-05-26T15:55:00.004+10:00

I had a meeting on the Gold Coast today so had the pleasure of catching up with my mum and two of my sisters for lunch. I still find it kinda hard to believe how grown up we all are. Out of the 5 girls in my family - 2 have kids, 2 have degrees, 2 are still studying for degrees, and 2 of us are married. I still remember fighting over the front seat of the car, singing to Garth Brooks and Hanson together on long car rides and changing my baby sister's butt when she was a baby. She's 19 now.

Mum with Giselle

Sally and Giselle. Sally is pregnant again and we found out last week she's having a boy!

Hollie with Giselle

And this is how they showed up with Jimmy.

And they say they aren't bogans...

did you miss us?

2010-04-22T05:58:00.002+10:00

hey peeps! we're back! Well we never really left but we did give blogging a break for a little while. Between moving house and having no internets at home and having jobs that didnt really allow for blogging, we decided to take a break.

But now, we're in our new lovely house complete with internets and we are back into blogging! I gotta keep this one brief as I need to take Nacho for a walk so maybe she'll stop crying for 10 minutes, but we'll write more soon.

Zanne

Artica

2010-02-12T15:09:00.001+10:00

I’ve taken a break from University (some might say “again?!”). I have been studying a Journalism degree. I was studying for personal development, not a career change. With that in mind, and after confirming I already know how to write and I have no passion for journalism, I realised I only intended finishing my three year degree because I like to finish what I start. I might go back to the degree in the future but, after much discussion with my wife, I’ve decided to pursue art.

It’s funny that I never decided to do this before. I guess I was busy travelling or, most likely I might have felt that art is what I do in my free time, not something to make a living from. Anyways, I’m at the point now where I totally hate being a secretary and I am constantly daydreaming of my perfect job… If I could be anything/do any job, what would it be? A tattoo artist. There’s no hesitation in answering that. A big dream, true. But it will be achievable through hard work and baby steps. So I enrolled into drawing classes at the Brisbane Institute of Art. How exciting!

My first class was last night – I’m in love! I wasn’t prepared for the nude model, I was a bit embarrassed to begin in fact, but it was surprising how quickly the model simply became curves and lines and tone. I’m not looking forward to a male model, I have to admit. Ew! I’ve told Zanne I’m gonna draw the male models like Ken Dolls ha!

Anyways, last night was a great experience and I’m totally psyched about this semester. My drawings sucked but I’m determined I will get better. Our teacher seems to think we will all improve in no time – “it just takes practice”. Well then, practice I will!

you and me babe, how ‘bout it?

2010-02-10T13:06:00.002+10:00

Well. It seems that Zanne is no longer with us…In addition to her topsy-turvy job (and finding a new one, hopefully free of topsy-turvy), she’s also involved in the creation of a new Australian magazine and has a number of web-based projects she’s hoping to get underway. As well, the Pride Committee is about to resume their weekly meetings (Pride is in June woo!) and Zanne will again take-up responsibility of arranging Brisbane’s Queer Community Awards Night. So basically, Zanne is too busy for us now bloggers. It’s just you and me – how ‘bout it?

vaccine, vacc-iiiiiine!

2010-02-10T13:06:00.001+10:00

Our wee family has Puppy Preschool Class No. 2 tonight – exciting!

Nacho had her second vaccination on the weekend. She was very brave!

train, train, go away

2010-02-10T13:05:00.002+10:00

There were train issues here in Brisbane on Friday – it took us 3 hours to get to work! Remember how I mentioned the commute to work is killing us? This is why!

and a nurse named Sarah

2010-02-10T13:05:00.001+10:00

My Mum had shoulder surgery last Thursday. She was not well afterwards (she had issues in recovery and very low blood pressure until the next morning), which is a difficult thing to witness. By all accounts though, her surgery went well. One surgery down, five to go.

daily photo done

2010-01-27T16:33:00.006+10:00

Remember how last year I made a resolution to take a daily photo? Well, done and done. Yeah!!

I hope you enjoyed my pics. I know some days weren't very inspiring but, hey, most of the time I just go to work you know? In retrospect I'm glad I chose to undertake this little project in 2009 because it was such a big year for us, full of change and growth. I'm sure Zanne and I will reflect on those 365 photos in the future and smile big.

There's no resolution/ongoing project for this year at this stage. I was considering an-every-other-day lyric type of thing but nothing has come of it yet - what do you reckon?

Shan

tick tock i love you clock

2010-01-27T16:15:00.004+10:00

Our little baby has certainly kept us busy this past week-and-a-bit. Up until Monday night Ms Nacho was waking us up once, twice and three times a night.

Anyways, last night was the second night that she slept all the way to 5am - yessss! Apparently the trick is a big ticking clock wrapped in Zanne's night shirt. Whatever works I say! Fingers crossed the sleeping continues. In any case, we start Puppy Preschool next week so I'm sure we'll pick up a few different tips over the next few weeks.

Shan

PS. Remember how Zanne and I are currently living with my parents? Well it's just lucky that Nacho is super cute and my parents are super understanding cos we haven't been evicted yet...

the newest addition

2010-01-16T20:27:00.004+10:00

Meet the newest addition to our little family - Nacho Marshmallow Michaels.

She's 8 weeks old and totally adorable!

PS. Nacho is the sister of my cousin's puppy, Murphy. Remember the puppy Justin got for Christmas?

Twenty Ten

2010-01-09T12:45:00.003+10:00

The Christmas break is over and I’m back at work - and back on the internets. I realise we just had 3 months away but, man, it was good to have another wee break. Good to sleep in, good to be just the two of us.

Pre-break we had big plans to have all sorts of adventures but Christmas and its lead-up took care of one week and Post-Christmas my parents were working during the day (yes, we still live with my parents) so we ended up taking advantage of long and lazy days together and spending our nights with family. It was good times. We had breakfast burritos each day, I took up residence at my new sewing machine (all the time complaining about the heat) and Zanne watched all three Lord of the Rings episodes. I like those times, when we have no cares and nothing to talk about, and when every time I catch the gaze of my love she smiles and I smile back because I just like hanging with her.

In addition to all our lazing about we also made plans for this new year (2010 – can you believe it?). We both committed to a budget and we wrote down some joint goals. We have dubbed this year “The Year of the P” as our goals fall under four categories: productive, practical, prepare and pretty.

Productive relates to how we wish to spend our time. Zanne has a number of projects she wishes to spend time on and I have some classes in mind that I’d like to attend.

Practical relates to how we wish to be with our money. We have both committed to being less frivolous so as to reach our financial goals of paying off our credit cards and saving for our own home (fingers crossed we’ll move in by the end of the year!). We were both motivated enough last year to save for our Canada adventure so I think our new goal should be no problem for us. We’re both really excited and I can’t help constantly thinking to myself “our own home, can you imagine!”

Prepare relates to gearing up for a family. We hope to start our family next year(!) but before that can happen we need a home and we need to be healthier, so health and fitness also falls under this category. I will be the birth mother of our children and so I have conception and pregnancy to be healthy for, but more than that, we both want to live long and healthy lives with (and for) our children. My Mum is currently having health issues and it’s a bit scary to be honest… It’s scary to think that Mum isn’t indestructible, and scarier still to know that she is so stubborn she might try to “grin and bear” her pain. My Mum is young (only 46) and it is awful to think of her not being well enough to enjoy her children and grandchildren - which has inspired Zanne and I to resolve to take care of our health so that we might enjoy our children forever and ever. Now obviously stuff happens and all that, but you know what I mean.

Pretty is so named because “creative” doesn’t begin with a “P”. We both wish to actively be more creative this year. I hope to continue with my sewing, and to hopefully improve, and Zanne is teeing up photography expeditions with some of our friends. I’m also hoping to work on my limited fine art (painting and drawing) skills…

Even though we’ve written our goals down, they’re not set in stone obviously, and some goals are more important than others. I just think it’s cool to wake up and see our purple poster and be reminded of the things we’d like to spend our time doing/thinking about. I’ve become a person who likes to accomplish goals, I find it very rewarding. And I like to reflect back on previous goals and know that I’ve ticked them off. For instance, when I was a teenager all I wanted to do was travel. Well, two+ years abroad and I’ve been there, done that. Same deal with my dreadlocks dream (Zanne says she is thankful she didn’t know me then!). You get the idea.

So 2010, I'm excited to see what you have in store for my wife and I - cos 2009 was awesome!

Cheers!

Shan

simply the best

2010-01-08T13:31:00.008+10:00

December 31: Well we know NYE is supposed to be the greatest night of the year and all but we kinda feel it's overrated... And anyways we're skint.
We spent the night with my parents and some family friends. We played wii games and pictionary, laughed and got tipsy, and before we knew it it was midnight already.
And so ended the best year of my life.

December 30: OMG! Guess what my cousin and his girlfriend got for Christmas? Only the cutest puppy ever!! Little Murphy is just adorable - too bad we can't seem to convince my parents of that. They clearly have no hearts.

December 29: I've been slowly going about the process of changing my name to my new married name. Today I got my new licence wooooooooo!December 28: Day Two of Zanne's Lord of the Rings viewing - geez those movies are long.

PS. I might have a crush on Aragon. And Arwen.December 27: Here I am with my lovely sewing machine. This is after I had to return to the fabric store so that they could explain how to read a pattern. Funny.

December 26: Zanne's dreams came true today - we both got iphones!

Shan

we wish you a merry christmas

2010-01-08T13:25:00.008+10:00

December 25: Christmas Day!
Zanne and I had the morning to ourselves before the rest of my family arrived home.
I got a bike!! Zanne worked with my brother Kris to restore and old vintage style bike she had purchased on ebay. It used to be blue but they re-sprayed it, put new tyres on it and serviced it. Plus Zanne added a bell that says "I love my bike". AND I DO LOVE IT!We spent time exchanging gifts with my family...

...before everyone decided to go skateboarding together. I'm not sure how that came about to be honest. Anyways I reckon a family that skateboards together is effing cool.
PS. Two seconds after I took the photo of Zanne on the left she came off her board. Her hip was bruised for a week :-(

Shan

bless the ocean

2010-01-08T13:08:00.007+10:00

December 24: Christmas Eve with Zanne's family. As always Zanne belted out Silent Night and her nephews scored hundreds of gifts.

Zanne's family lives on the Gold Coast. Before the rest of the family arrived home her Dad, nephew and us went to a local lookout to check out the view and eat some snacks.
The Coast is pretty nice eh?

December 23: Totes!

December 22: We went cruising with our friends Tarkel to look at some local Christmas lights and exchange gifts afterwards . Christmas lights are a big deal here in Brisbane and there is a big competition that takes place across the South East.
We saw the second place winner (top left) and it was great (not that you can tell from the photo unfortunately) - it even had a little train for the kids to ride on. The funniest thing was that their neighbour put up just one set of lights that said "ditto". I loved that.

December 21: My Aunty has just purchased a new home in the area we hope to live. This house is on the corner of her new street and we want it!
Do you see the white picket fence??! Too cute.
Zanne and I have been obsessing over our dream of owning our own home so much that taken to driving around and around the streets of our new 'hood.
This photo is now pinned on our wall for inspiration.

Shan

we are all made of stars and oscar winning friends

2010-01-08T13:07:00.006+10:00

December 20: We wished Casslina well for Laos and headed home from from Byron Bay. We stopped in at Zanne's family's home on the way though to see her sister Sally (and husband and daughter). Sally and her family are off to New Zealand for Christmas to be with her in-laws.
Today was the first time we'd seen our little niece, Giselle, since returning home from Canada. She's now 4.5 months old and is just so beautiful - check out those lips! Awwww.

December 19: We (us and Casslina) enjoyed a day out and about in Bangalow, drinking coffee and checking out antique stores and such.
In the evening we had a Christmas dinner with Cassie's family - interestingly Cassie received a "Feminist Apron" that had something about a Princess embroided on it. The early Christmas dinner was due to the girls flying out for a 2 week holiday in Laos the following day. Christmas and NYE in Laos - how awesome!

December 18: We spent the weekend at Byron Bay with our besties, Casslina. We all stayed at Milena's parents' house, which her and her family built all by themselves by the by (incredible!!). On this night we exchanged Christmas gifts, drank wine and mostly laughed a lot...

December 17: I agree Mr Moby.
(Zanne at the Limes Hotel catching up with an old friend of hers who is home from Japan for Christmas)

December 16: Dinner with my BFF for her birthday. After she chugged down a cocktail of 6 shots we gave her gifts including an Oscar we picked up for her in the U.S. Her acceptance speech was unforgettable.

Shan

the faggot stitch

2010-01-08T13:06:00.003+10:00

December 15: We gay-ed up our car today. Woot! December 14: A couple of days ago I began thinking about teaching myself to sew. You see, I have to cover my tattoos at work and have found it really hot wearing jumpers and long pants lately (it's the middle of summer!) so I thought I might give skirts a go. Surely I can sew a skirt?Anyways I ordered a sewing machine online and it arrived today - isn't she beautiful?!

December 13: As if our nephew Noah didn't already think Zanne is the bee's knees... Today Zanne entertained Noah with her skating skills, and he came up with some moves of his own (bottom right).

He didn't tire of the skateboarding, constantly asking for "more".It all ended though after Zanne and Noah went down the driveway together and came off on the road. Oops. No-one was hurt but we decided to play a different game anyways.
December 12: Zanne and I have taken up squash (there's not much else to do out in the 'burbs). It's very fun and we laugh a lot. But we're very un-fit which means we also sweat a lot... and become very red in the face. Shan

Natmas

2010-01-08T13:05:00.006+10:00

December 11: Birthday drinks for Natalie (top left) and she wore very high heels to celebrate. My friend Nat's birthday falls on Christmas Day so she had her birthday celebrations early. Nat has renamed Christmas "Natmas" just so you know.
Zanne and I are pictured here with our other awesome friend, Marie.

December 10: My work Christmas party... It's a laugh to see workmates all drunken. One of my workmates was so drunk she thought Zanne was the IT guy's pregnant wife, Susan - WTF? Zanne played along of course and all night she and the IT guy were referred to as "the happy couple". Funny.
December 9: My parents gave us a belated wedding gift - a mini vintage car! It has pedals!!!
I don't even remember telling my Mum that we like these cars. How does she do that? How does she know me so well??

Shan

a case of the hair

2009-12-24T06:26:00.009+10:00

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...

It's Christmas!!

2009-12-23T07:04:00.004+10:00

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...?

my new old job

2009-12-09T13:52:00.001+10:00

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

2009-12-09T13:33:00.002+10:00

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

2009-12-09T13:29:00.004+10:00

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

up-to-date!

2009-12-04T13:16:00.001+10:00

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!

2009-12-04T08:14:00.005+10:00

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

2009-12-04T08:11:00.003+10:00

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

2009-12-04T08:07:00.005+10:00

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!

2009-12-04T07:59:00.005+10:00

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

L.A. inked

2009-11-24T07:19:00.007+10:00

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

the mayor of castro street

2009-11-24T07:17:00.006+10:00

November 8: Today we did a cheesy bus tour of downtown San Fran. Cheesier still we rented a tandem bicycle and rode to the Golden Gate Bridge – those bikes are harder to ride than they look! So much giggling, so much fun.

November 7: Day one in San Fran - this was one of my fave days.
We started out by doing a walking historical tour of the Castro. Given that we have a vested interest in gay civil rights, are active in our community and (I) watched Milk on the plane over from Aus, we were super excited for the tour. We learned a lot about the Castro area on the tour, as well as Harvey Milk. We learned of the history of the Rainbow Flag (created as a banner for Harvey Milk by drag queen, Gil Baker) and of the current freedoms we/Californians enjoy because of Harvey’s achievements while he was in office (a total of just 11 months!). It was a wonderful tour and it motivated us to be more active activists, and of course to daydream about living in the Castro – a place where, if you wish, you can walk down the street wearing nothing but a thong, hat and sunglasses.
We wandered the Haight in the afternoon and I educated Zanne about Janis Joplin. We got as far as Golden Gate Park before turning around and heading back to the Castro though – the park had a creepy vibe, there were very shady characters just metres away from a childrens’ (approx 5 year olds) soccer game offering drugs to passersby.
In the evening we caught up with Sharan, an English girl we’d met on our Castro tour. We had dinner at Harvey’s before searching out a lesbian bar in the Mission called Lexington(?). We were quickly wasted! It was random, spontaneous good times.

November 6: Today we flew from New York to San Francisco. It was beautiful to see the Rocky Mountains, even if they did cause us hours of turbulence.

Shan

new york city cops they ain't so smart

2009-11-24T07:15:00.004+10:00

November 5: There was tragedy on this day…
We spent our last day in New York walking around the whole city taking very particular and precise photographs of those things and places we had liked most in the City.
Eg: We walked over 30 blocks to take photos of the Chelsea Hotel. I loved the photos I took of Zanne outside the Stonewall Inn and also hanging from the street pole of Gay St. We took a sunset cruise of the Hudson and I took some lovely photos of the Statue of Liberty with the sun setting behind her.
When we returned to our hotel all photos from our Rebel had been deleted. It was very upsetting :-(
The photos here were taken on our point and shoot camera. As you can see, we were honoured to visit John Lennon’s Imagine/Strawberry Fields Garden as well as his last home, the Dakota building.

November 4: On the day that the Yankees won the World Series we saw the Knicks play at Madison Square Garden. Way before that though, we did sightseeing bus tours of the sights south of Central Park (Fashion District, Financial District, Chinatown, etc) and Brooklyn. We cruised some markets, ate hotdogs from a street vendor, purchased some rad souvenirs, took many photos AND enjoyed a carriage ride around Central Park with a horse name Romeo (thank you Kelly and Tarquin!).

November 3: Our first day in New York began with breakfast two tables away from Goldie Hawn and some gawking from Zanne (we returned to the same diner every day thereafter - granted it was a good $7 breakfast). We did some sightseeing on foot around Central Park and 5th Avenue (by which time we were daydreaming about living in NYC) before hopping a Sex and the City Bus Tour.
As I’ve mentioned here, I’m a huge SATC fan and was very much looking forward to the tour. We saw many of the sights including: the New York Public Library (where Carrie and Big were to be married), Buddakan (where Carrie and Big had their rehearsal dinner), The Pleasure Chest (where Charlotte purchased her Rabbit), Steve and Aiden’s bar, Scout (which is actually called O’Neil’s and is not, in fact, on Mulberry St).
The tour gave us a bit of wondering time in the West Village (as Samantha’s apartment was in the Meat Packing District) – such a lovely area. While there Zanne picked up a rad Marc Jacobs tee (“I pay my taxes, I want my rights”) and a coffee table book about the intriguing characters (read: mobsters) of New York’s past. We also enjoyed a cupcake from the infamous Magnolia Bakery (Miranda and Carrie shared one of the same cupcakes when Carrie revealed her crush on Aiden). To end our day, and for the second evening in a row, we had burgers from the deli a block down from our hotel in our newly upgraded, smoke-free room with King bed.

November 2: The first day of our honeymoon!We woke super early (3.30am!) in order to make it to our 5am bus which drove us to Seattle. We flew from Seattle to New York and saw the sunset over Iowa in between. Today was a long day what with the buses and planes and shuttles and when The Holiday Inn gave us a smoking room (AKA an ashtray) when we checked in at 10pm we were too tired to complain.

Shan

i want candy

2009-11-24T07:13:00.004+10:00

November 1: Our last day in Vancouver – who knew it would come around so quickly!
We spent the day packing the remainder of our gear and cleaning the apartment before heading to Stanley Park in the evening to ride the Halloween Ghost Train. Man, Halloween is so fun! (We also found $20 on the ground and saw Raccoons on this night).We leave for New York tomorrow but Shannon and Noah are staying in Vancouver for another week – they’ll meet us in LA on November 9.

Lastly, we went trick or treating. Again, this was something new for us and we loved it. It was so fun to see everyone out and about in costume and to see the effort that so many people go to in decorating their homes. We visited many houses, but the haunted house in particular was super cool (though Noah (our 18 month old nephew) didn’t seem to think it was particularly spooky). Speaking of Noah, he makes a pretty cute skeleton I say!Then there was pumpkin carving(!). Halloween is not a custom in Australia so we (Zanne, Shannon and I) were most excited about our pumpkin creations. Shannon carved a Noah-kin, Zanne carved a Dracula-kin and I carved a Shazanne-kin.October 31: The day before the day before happened in 3 parts:First there was park adventures including duck feeding, running in gumboots and much hidingOctober 30: Breakfast at Sophie’s Cosmic Café, bus rides, packing and shipping, hide and seek and cubby housesShan

Shazanne to Earth

2009-11-23T06:46:00.003+10:00

We are still alive - I promise! We've had a hectic few weeks of honeymooning and moving back to Australia and starting new jobs and catching up with friends, and during all that time internet access has been limited. But we went and bought a wireless USB for our laptop yesterday so we are now back in the world of blogging! Shan will try to upload some photos tonight and I'll be sure to update ya'll on all the fun stuff we got up to on our honeymoon and since we've been home. Be back soon!

gimme a sign

2009-11-02T08:23:00.003+10:00

Zanne and I have been packing up our stuff (again) this week and I came across a newspaper I had stashed away. The day that we were deciding once and for all whether we were going to stay in Vancouver or return home to Brisbane, our horoscopes read:

Gemini: Your ambitions may seem impractical to some but what do they know and what do you care? Get ahead and stay ahead.

Aquarius: Do you fantasize about running away and starting again from scratch? Take charge of your life and make it so you don't need to run away. Do it today.

We thought these were pretty amazing that day - another sign that we should live our lives on our terms?

wrap it up

2009-10-31T14:01:00.010+10:00

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

2009-10-31T13:54:00.002+10:00

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!

2009-10-30T14:58:00.004+10:00

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...

2009-10-29T08:37:00.002+10:00

October 26: Our wedding day.
Enough said!

Mrs. Shan

remember way back when, like before we were married?

2009-10-29T08:36:00.003+10:00

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

2009-10-28T21:11:00.001+10:00

i do!

2009-10-26T23:57:00.002+10:00

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

2009-10-22T10:56:00.005+10:00

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

2009-10-22T10:25:00.002+10:00

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

2009-10-21T10:37:00.005+10:00

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

2009-10-16T17:26:00.005+10:00

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

2009-10-16T17:22:00.007+10:00

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

2009-10-16T17:19:00.003+10:00

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

2009-10-16T17:17:00.005+10:00

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

2009-10-11T03:01:00.003+10:00

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

2009-10-11T02:50:00.008+10:00

Jason Mraz and Bon Scott?

if we can't be happy friends

2009-10-11T02:50:00.005+10:00

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

2009-10-11T02:43:00.007+10:00

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

2009-10-08T00:16:00.004+10:00

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...

2009-10-07T09:57:00.004+10:00

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...

2009-10-05T11:57:00.005+10:00

'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

2009-10-04T05:08:00.006+10:00

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

an inappropriate over-reaction

2009-09-29T08:26:00.004+10:00

September 27: A beautiful, sunny Sunday prompted a leisurely walk to Granville Island where we browsed the markets, and Zanne got high on donuts and I on mango gelato.

September 26: We took these while waiting for our friend Fan to pick us up. We were on our way to a wine bar for a drink. Who is more comfortable in front of the camera do you think???September 25: It is barely Fall here and already there is a briskness to the air. And the leaves are beginning to turn! I love being able to experience the seasons - with 9 months of summer weather, Brisbane really misses out in this respect. I'm so excited for Zanne to experience each of Vancouver's seasons.

Also, today I was offered a position as a volunteer at Qmunity. I enjoy being active in my community and am super stoked to be a part of an organisation that provides ongoing support and resources and programs for BC queers. It's likely that I will be working on reception to begin with but eventually I hope to be involved with the Prideline which is a support/info line. It was also mentioned during my interview that a regular newsletter would be welcomed if I was interested in starting one - what a cool opportunity!

September 24: Some pics from my photography class - the left is underexposed and the right is overexposed. Inspiring eh? Ha!

Today I had a terrible interview with a loser who hadn't read my resume but still suggested I didn't have good employment prospects anyways. Grrrr! I moped about all afternoon but my class cheered me (any creative activity always does!). I really like our teacher, Mary. I find her bright and friendly and a little eccentric. I'm not sure that my classmates share my positive opinion though - in my class of 12-ish people I seem to be the only one laughing with her. Some people might say I'm easily amused but I actually think that my classmates might lack a sense of humour, some of them seem a little uptight to be honest. Whatevs. Shan

would you like paper with those fries?

2009-09-24T14:22:00.003+10:00

September 23: Lunch at Milestone's in English Bay followed by some photo taking in the lovely sunshine AKA a break from writing job applications September 22: Brunch at the Kings Head Inn at Kitsilano AKA a break from writing job applications Shan

a pair of babyboomers going at it like rabbits

2009-09-24T14:15:00.005+10:00

September 21: We're still coming across differences over here - these products at the grocery store for instance. I'm sure our peeps back home will find them funny too.

September 20: Zanne and I have been spending a lot of days searching for jobs and applying for them. Today Zanne wanted a new photo to include with her resume - this is how things ended up! Luckily there were one or two more professional ones though.September 19: While we were in Seattle Zanne purchased her very own adult-size onesie. It is hilarious, and is her new favourite of course.Shan

quack quack, dog dog

2009-09-23T14:57:00.002+10:00

We just spoke to our 1 year old nephew, Noah, on skype - look at how cute he is!

We sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, poked out our tongues and played peek-a-boo... Zanne is clearly still his favourite, which is, you know, fine, whatever...

My fave moment was when he realised who we were and he pointed to us (on the computer) then pointed to the sky and said "broom!" - he remembers our plane!! He's so smart. I just love his guts.

Shan

the good, the bad and the kewsh

2009-09-22T10:31:00.006+10:00

Today was a mixed one:

The badd-ish news:
Our computer was infected with a virus overnight - bugger! We called in a computer geek who paid us a house call (or rather we paid him). The lovely Alexi fixed our 'puter all up and, further, he deleted and reinstalled our operating system so she's like brand new again! Sucks about the fee but it's nice to have our computer running so quickly for once.

The awesome news: I have a job interview on Thursday WOOT! I'm being interviewed for one of two legal floater positions at a downtown law firm. Please send me good vibes peeps! In the words of Kath: fingers and toes love, fingers and toes.

The almost-job news inspired us to go puppy window shopping. Check out this guy - he has two different coloured eyes! Of course I knew this was possible in people (my brother has one brown, one green eye), but I didn't know it was possible in puppies. Isn't he kewsh?!

Shan

under the influence

2009-09-21T12:46:00.005+10:00

We just ate dinner and were sitting here watching a bad TV movie and an ad for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups came on. We looked at each other, then at the TV, then at each other. Then I went to 7/11 and bought 2 packets of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

As we enjoyed our Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, another ad for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups came on. Shan commented that we're too influenced by TV. The she said.. "I love you... Peanut Butter Cup". And she wasn't talking to me.

I love you!... but...

2009-09-20T14:03:00.007+10:00

As much as we love Vancouver, there are a few things we're still getting used to:

There's no cordial. Anywhere. I know! Anyone who knows me, knows of my addiction to fruit cup cordial. I don't do tea or coffee and only have the odd energy drink because I always had my cordial and thermo. It was the first thing I drank in the morning, and drank it all through my work day. It's my thing and I loved it. But apparently Canada, and all of the US, doesn't stock cordial. When I asked people about it they'd give me a very questioning look and ask if I was after Lime cordial, the only type anyone has. I've requested cordial for Christmas, birthdays, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day and Halloween. If you'd like to send me some cordial, let me know and I'll send you our address. And then I'll kiss you.
There's no standy-up toothpaste in Canada. I've looked in every supermarket we've been to in Vancouver. I know this isn't a huge thing, but it's one of those little things we liked to use, to pay a little extra for the convenience and tidiness. This crisis was averted during our trip to Seattle were I managed to find some and bought three. Woooo!Walking on the right side of the street. After a month we're getting used to it now, but it's scary stepping onto the street and being surprised to see a car coming at you on the wrong side! I've been trying to pay particular attention to getting my right and wrong sides in order since we'll be driving sometime in the next couple of months (thanks to Mumsie and her offer of the use of one of her cars for the next year!).

French and English on every product. From baked beans to conditioner and bus schedules, every label in Vancouver is dual-language. Which is awesome for learning the language, but confusing when you're trying to work out if it's a french word or just an english word we're not familiar with.

Tipping. We love tipping for a job well done, but it's expected here that you tip 15% for almost every service. So it feels like an obligation instead of a reward. The compulsory tipping also means you have to make sure you include it in your calculations for every meal, so you always have to be aware of how much money you've got and how much it's really going to cost you. And if you don't tip at least 10% for every meal etc, you get dirty looks, which I think is quite a bit shit cos it means we end up over-tipping just to avoid anyone spitting in our next meal. We get that the minimum wage here is low ($8/hr), but staff shouldn't have to rely on us paying tips to be able to pay their rent. I might take this whole wage thing up with the B.C. government...

And in addition to the above, we're also still getting used to all the add-ons on every bill or receipt. For example, we bought our new camera recently and the price tag said $789. But when we took it to the till they added PST (provincial service tax) and GST and we ended up paying more than $850. And it's the same with groceries and clothes and take-out. Tax is always added at the end, so the price you see isn't actually the price you're going to pay and you never really know what you're going to pay until you get the bill. Why can't they just add the tax into the price they list?? Surely that would be way easier?

The homeless and the crazies. We knew to expect this, Shan had warned me, but there really are a lot of homeless people in Vancouver. For the most part they're harmless and they just get about with their trollies, collecting cans and bottles for recycling, but it's been a bit scary at times. Like the time we were in a bathroom in a mall and a lady started yelling - "F*ck you! F*ck you! I'm gonna STAB you next time Wendy, you f*king sl*t!" She just mumbled to herself and left but seriously, she could have easily have stabbed anyone right then she was so off her face. And then there was the time we were walking in East Van and this lady walking towards us started screaming at the air around her, telling her invisible friend to "f*ck off you f*ckin' faggot and leave me alone!" That was nice... In Brisbane, the worst you come across are drunks asking for cash. It's the drugged up ones that scare me cos you know they're not seeing or thinking clearly. And unfortunately, there's quite a few of those here.

The positives still outweigh the negatives massively, and we're totally loving being here. Everyday we wake up excited about what the day might bring. We've got plans to go to a Wine Festival in the Okanagan in the next few weeks and we're busy applying for jobs so we can relax and start planning for fun things like our wedding and the babies. So if anyone knows anyone in Vancouver who can offer me a PR job and Shan something great in a law office, that would be super. Call me! *call me signal with right hand*

the urge to merge

2009-09-20T10:49:00.004+10:00

September 18: Today Zanne and I took our friends' little boy (aka Superman) to Science World. Yay for science! September 17: Today I began a 10 week DSLR course with Vancouver Photo Workshops.

I'm stoked! It's too bad I have sinus today though - I felt a bit too fuzzy to concentrate in class.

Shan

it didn't went

2009-09-20T10:45:00.002+10:00

September 16: After P!nk we caught a ferry to JC's family cabin at Bainbridge Island. What a lovely spot! Zanne and I were certainly inspired to daydream about having such a weekender.

We stayed overnight at the cabin and headed back home to Vancouver in the afternoon - following a bit more outlet shopping! September 15: Today Fan, JC, Zanne and I drove to Seattle for shopping at outlets, and coffee at the very first Starbucks, and sightseeing at Pike Street and, oh, going to the P!nk concert - woohoo!!

September 14: Zanne's impromptu photoshoot September 13: This morning we had breakfast with Chelse before browsing for Halloween costumes at Value Village. Chels makes a cute M&M! Shan

if i could drown in anything it would be maple syrup

2009-09-13T13:19:00.005+10:00

September 12: Davie Days!

"a day of fun, laughter and music in Vancouver’s West End"

September 11: Zanne was fascinated by this photo - the guy copped a baseball in the face:

"Minnesota Twins batter Justin Morneau fouls a ball off his cheek during the first inning of their MLB American League game against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto"

September 10: Another delicious breakfast at Bon's

September 9: We've become such regulars at our local Blenz that this is now how we're greeted in the mornings - hilarious!!
Shan

when a vegetarian goes moose hunting

2009-09-09T13:14:00.005+10:00

September 8: Here we are on the day my week-long search for a cabbie hat ended - it was only a tenner! Thanks H&M!September 7: We returned home from Mumsie's place today.

Here I am talking to my Mum on skype.

Last time I lived in Canada my Mum had to learn how to email, now she's an old hand at that and we're onto skype and webcams.

So clever!

September 6: Today is our second day at Mumsie's place. We've done lots of relaxing and laughing and sleeping and playing and eating and no-one had to ride back to town on a moose carcass - phew! Shan

i eat squares like you for breakfast

2009-09-07T11:08:00.008+10:00

September 5: It's the Labour Day long weekend here in Canada and we're spending a couple of days at Trav's Mum's home in Cultus Lake. Here are some pics of the lake on our first (cloudy) day. So beautiful! September 4: We got our very own Rebel - most excellent!

September 3: Well... we planned to go to Bowen Island today, but to get there we needed to take a water taxi and there's only so many water taxi's each day so we had to book online the day before. We woke up early and it was a really overcast and rainy day so we decided to forfeit our trip (and a one way fare - $30). But then by about 10am it was fining up, and figuring we shouldn't waste our money we decided to go anyway.

We got on the boat, got about 5 minutes into the 35 minute trip and the boat had engine problems. We sat on the water for a few minutes before the boat was turned around and driven very, very slowly back into the ferry dock and we were told there would be no more trips until the afternoon. We decided we should have listened to 'that feeling' we'd had about the trip and got our money back from the guy and decided to go to the aquarium instead.

The aquarium was AWESOME! We saw the beluga whales and turtles and all things watery - including a 4D theatre.

There's a marketing job going at the Aquarium which Zanne is going to apply for - please cross fingers and toes for her!

Shan

get your pose on kiddo

2009-09-03T15:44:00.005+10:00

We miss this guy:

Thanks for emailing us pics Mum!

why don't shirts come with figurines?

2009-09-03T15:32:00.004+10:00

September 2: A cruisy day of antique/thrift store shopping.

We scored a dinner set, a mason jar, a batman figurine, a coffee table and nostalgic signs.

It was a totally radical day, except we walked up and down Main St for 4 hours and now our feet are sore!

September 1: Another day, another breakfast date.

Here we are at Sophie's Cosmic Cafe (well, Zanne is the only one photographed...).

If we could do breakfast every day for the rest of our lives we'd be happy, happy girls!

Shan

Lost in translation

2009-09-03T12:57:00.005+10:00

I had my first ever accent-related conversation confusion over the weekend. We were at the softball tournament and Trav's friend was telling us about a 4 day camping trip he was going on with his family. The conversation went like this:

Me: so how long will it take you to get there?
Derek: oh about 4 hours or so.
Me: that's not too bad. Will there be bears?
Derek: oh yeah... I'm sure we'll have some beers...
Trav and Fan (at the same time): Not beers, beaRs!
Derek: What?
Trav and Fan: BeaRs! GRRRR (with two hand claw motion)
Derek: Oh BeaRs!
Me: (red face)
Everyone else: (in hysterics)

Let me count the ways

2009-09-03T00:40:00.007+10:00

Vancouver, will you marry me? For here are the things we love about thee:

Coffee - for as long as I've known Shan she's been crazy for coffee and she always talked about how much she loved the coffee in Canada. It is different here. You just ask for a coffee and they give you an almost-filled cup of drip coffee and you put in the cream or milk and sugar yourself. It has become a daily ritual for Shan to pick up a coffee every morning from Blenz on our way to anywhere. Luckily for Shan, Vancouver has about 76 coffee shops on each block.

Our apartment - thanks to Chris and Lisa, we get to spend our first 6 months in Vancouver in an awesome apartment, in an awesome part of town with fantastic views and bikes we can use to explore the city! We both agreed that anything after this is going to be a let down..

The city - before we moved here, everytime we mentioned Vancouver to someone who had been here had the same remark - that it was the most beautiful city they'd ever been to. It really is beautiful! The north American architecture of the homes is really cool, the city is really pretty and well kept, the water is clean and clear and the mountains behind the city just make everything perfect. We're lucky enough to enjoy views of the mountain and city from our perfect apartment.

Food - just this week we've managed to find a reasonably priced supermarket, an awesome $2.99 all day breakfast joynt and you can get a $1.50 slice of pizza anytime of the day or night, anywhere around the city. And they're a big slice too. New York Slice in the Valley is ripping everyone off!

Everything is easy - transport is simple and cheap (lots of buses, new train line near our house, you pay $2.50 and you get a pass you can use on any public transport for 1.5 hours), the people are really friendly (the girl at the bank apologised for taking so long, saying she didn't want to give us a bad impression of Canadian banks, even though she was staying behind after close to get our travellers cheque processed!), and the whole process of coming here has been straightforward and easy.

Clothing - As with London, it's much easier to be trendy in a cooler climate. So the fashion is different here. Less singlets and flip-flops and more jackets and sneakers. It's cool. We're enjoying layering and picking up cool clothes fairly cheap. I've been lucky enough to buy two new pairs of shoes (on top of the two pairs I bought just before we left), and Shan bought one new pair for work. I'll be blogging about my new shoes later :)

Dogs - Dogs can go anywhere in Vancouver. Everyone seems more relaxed about dogs here and you can find them everywhere - in the bank, at the employment office, at every park. And they're not just there, they're walking around freely. When we went to get our Social Insurance Number (like our tax file number) yesterday, this girl had a little maltese terrier there and he was just wandering around through all the people and I got to pat him. He was SOOOOOO cute!

Love - Shan and I are honestly more in love here. I think all of the above has made our life happy, made us happy and we can't stop smiling at each other. And because all of Canada has equal rights, we can walk around holding hands and no one cares and we can talk about our wedding and everyone gets excited. See Mr Prime Minister, this country allows gay marriage and society isn't falling apart and the horses aren't eating each other either.

and it was all yellow

2009-09-02T16:15:00.007+10:00

August 31: A lot happened today...

We finally found a great breakfast place woot! Bon's Off Broadway has a $2.95 all day breakfast and Britney posters on the walls - even Rad Stewart loves it there ha! Speaking of walls, they matched my shirt *wink*. We'll be Bon's regulars for sure me-thinks.

We found an affordable grocery store - stoked! Although for some reason vegemite is $11.99 - as if! Lucky Zanne brought her own tube of it with her.

Zanne's 6 month shoe search reached a happy end - I'll let her share that story with you. I hear she's got a very entertaining blog lined up.

We ended the day by watching the sunset on the seawall with our new besties, "our" bikes. Ah, Vancouver. You woo me until the sun goes down...

August 30: We enjoyed the PNE (Pacific National Exhibition) with some of our friends today. The PNE is a summer fair which has been running for 99 years! It's like the Brisbane Ekka, without the show bags (cos that's an Australian thing it would seem).

Zanne loved the donuts and fairy floss; Weston loved the animals.

Note below: The 3,000lb oxen who were taller than me!

PS. Milena, the Sausage Haus pic is for you! xo

August 29: Our friend Trav and his softball team, The Drunken Berries, played in the playoffs today. We were there the whole day to cheer him on - and Zanne has the sunburn to prove it! How funny that she has her first sunburn for years in Canada (which is certainly not as hot as Australia!). Actually it's not really funny, her poor legs were so sore she could barely walk.

Note below: The bbq made from the front of a car and the dual beer bong being enjoyed by one of the competing teams.

Shan

a piece of remember

2009-08-31T15:13:00.007+10:00

August 28: We babysat our friends' little boy tonight - such a cute, sweet little guy.

August 27: In the afternoon we caught the skytrain, seabus, bus and gondola up to Grouse Mountain (which is the mountain we enjoy photographing from our apartment). We had such a great time! And, oh man, what views!
August 27: We had an action-packed day today, thus a two part daily pic.
We spent the morning cruising the seawall to Kitsilano, taking photos and enjoying the sunshine.
August 26: We had a lazy day today - coffee, brunch, a visit to the dollar store, cheese and crackers on our balcony and some Myers-Briggs to boot.
Shan

It's only been a week, but...

2009-08-31T01:12:00.008+10:00

... I think I'm in love!

Ok, so again, sorry about the lack of posts! Between breakfasts, sightseeing, shopping, assignments and getting sunburnt, we've hardly had any time to just sit and write. But it's Monday morning and I'm up early to update ya'll on our new life and adventures so far. Since I've left it so long between posts, I'm going to try to do some catch up blogs starting with this one, and hopefully by the end of the week I'll actually be back to blogging about the day that just happened!

We left Australia last Sunday morning with our entourage to see us off. There were tears and smiles and lots of photos and it really was a case of mixed emotions. We were so sad to leave everyone but just so excited about finally getting to Vancouver and doing all the things we'd talked about for so long.

After saying our goodbyes and going through immigration we finally boarded our plane at about 11am. We were stoked to hear that our flight to LA was only 12 hours, not the 16 hours we had thought (I don't know why we thought that...) and as soon as we sat down we started going through the inflight entertainment, which was totally awesome! They had full seasons of a bunch of tv shows (Family Guy, CSI etc), documentaries and about 40 movies to choose from - we were loving it. The whole V Australia experience was fantastic. The staff were really nice and happy and the food was great. The only complaint we can make is that we called the day before our flight to see if we could book in online and the girl said no, that all people on flights to the US had to have their visas checked so you had to wait until you got to the airport. I even said "So there's nothing we can do before we get to the airport?" and she said no. So we got to the airport early and ended up being about 6th in line and when we asked for a window seat, we were told they were all taken and we had to sit in the middle row of the plane. So I don't know what happened there or if there's some other way to reserve seats before the flight but we were pretty annoyed that we didn't get to sit by a window. On the upside, the seat next to us was free so we were able to stretch out a bit.

We didn't really get any sleep on the plane and arrived in LA at 7am local time, 11pm for us. We stood in line at immigration and just as we were getting to the front of the line, the drug-sniffing beagle came by, sniffed around my bag and then sat down next to it. I almost died! Not because I was worried about them finding 4 kilos of marijuana in my duffle, but because we had a piece of Aunty Robyn's banana bread in my bag and I was stressing that it was about to cost us an extra 2 hours as they took us into one of those smalls rooms to check all our bags and possibly a conduct a full body cavity search. I quickly told the lady attached to the dog that we just had a piece of cake in the bag and she said it was ok, that he was still learning and really just wanted to eat whatever we had. And they continued on their way.. PHEW! The rest of customs and immgration was fine, except we were asked by every US customs/immigration person we encountered why we had the tourist visa that we had... seriously?! Shouldn't they be aware of why we needed that visa? We had to explain it at every step of the way.

We arrived at the LA domestic airport and found we were too early to put our bags through so we went back to the main airport terminal and had some McDonald's hashbrowns for breaky. We headed back to the other terminal and stood in line to check in for our next flight to Vancouver on Alaskan Air. As we got towards the front, a lady from the customer service desk said she could check us in so we moved over to her area. She was super friendly and said the flight was really empty so she moved us up the plane and put one of us in the window seat and one in the aisle so there was a seat between us so we could have the extra space. We were really happy with that as we were super tired and were both looking forward to sleeping on the 3 hour flight. We made our way to the departure lounge and and spent the next 3 hours trying to nap (me), sending quick emails to family and drinking coffee (shan).

So we finally board the plane around 1pm local time (5am for us) and as we walk to our seat we find a young guy sitting in the seat between ours. Awesome. He kindly offered to change seats so shan and I had the window and middle seats. When we'd booked the flight we'd selected seats towards the back of the plane so we could have a clear view. But the lady had moved us so we could have extra space and now we were right over the wing, and with no extra space at all. We were too tired to care too much and promptly tried to get some sleep. About 15 minutes into the flight the big, unhealthy-looking guy behind us started feeling crook. He stood in the aisle, doubled over, and the flight attendants asked if there was a doctor on the flight. There was, and he came to see the guy, asked him how he was feeling etc. The guy told the doctor he was a diabetic and so the nurse got him some juice and the doctor gave him a lolly and that seemed to calm things down. The flight attendant put him on oxygen and he sat there for about 30 minutes on that. So after like an hour of drama things calmed down and everyone went back to their seats. Then, when everyone was feeling sorry for him and hoping he'd be alright, he started joking around with his buddies about how he shouldnt have drunk all those beers before the flight. Sympathy evaporated in 0.5 seconds.

We arrived in Vancouver at about 4pm local time and were prepared for the 2 hour customs and immgration process, which was how long it had taken Shan to get through last time she'd come through Vancouver airport. We went through customs and and the lady told us to go to immigration so I could get my visa. So we went to immigration expecting a long wait and when we went into the room, it was completely empty except for one other guy and we went straight to a booth and were out of there in about 10 minutes. It was awesome! Oh and the other guy who was in there was denied entry to Canada because of a drink driving charge in the US and was being sent back immediately. He was gutted as he had to start a class the next morning. It was just like an episode of Border Control.

Fannie met us at the airport and took us to her house to see Trav and Weston and they made us some really delicious nachos! She then drove us to our new house, our new home, and we absolutely loved it, right from the beginning. The views are amazing and Chris and Lisa left us instructions for everything. We enjoyed being in our new home for abour 30 minutes before the sleep deprivation finally took over and we went to bed, totally crashing for about 10 hours.

So that was our trip over! I'll post more later today about what we've been up to this week :)

Zanne

two days ago when it was yesterday

2009-08-27T07:03:00.004+10:00

August 25: Day 2!

Breakfast and play time with Fannie and Weston, evening drinks with Chelse and Janelle (Zanne tastes her first Canadian beer!).

August 24: Pics from our first day in Vancouver (in our apartment, out and about in the False Creek area, etc). This was one of the happiest days of my life :-)
Shan

except for that one, there's not a cloud in the sky

2009-08-27T06:49:00.004+10:00

August 23: Here we are on our journey from Brisbane to Vancouver. Such a long, sleepless two-days-in-one.

August 22: Our last Brisbane evening was spent watching my youngest brother's football (rugby league) game. He's the captain of his team. They won by heaps.
August 21: Zanne visited her family on the Gold Coast one last time pre-flight to Vancouver. Her Dad has been working in India for the last 6 weeks so this was the first day he met baby Giselle. Aw!
Shan

if heaven were on earth it would be in Vancouver

2009-08-26T11:17:00.004+10:00

Ok, so we love it here! totally! And we're sorry for the lack of posts! we've just been hella busy and have been having minor computer issues so havent been able to write much yet. but we will tomorrow, promise! in the meantime, you can check out our first bunch of photos here -

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=299756&id=674160441

as if we needed another reason...

2009-08-22T22:35:00.003+10:00

It was eleventy billion degrees in Brisbane today. Ok, maybe it was only 30 degrees, but seriously - we still have 1.3 weeks of WINTER left! So as if we needed yet another reason to know we are making the best decision when we board our flight to Canada tomorrow, we'll now be looking forward to escaping this scorching Queensland winter and enjoying the mild summer of Vancouver. Bring it on we say!

As of 15 minutes ago (10.30pm, Saturday 22 August), we are packed, weighed and ready to go. We've been wearing the same clothes for 3 days to avoid anymore washing, we've written explanations to all things computerish for Shan's folks, and the internet is finally working again so we're posting our final blog from this little island we call home.

We're both really excited and keep saying things like "i'm so over packing! i'm so over saving! i just want to be there already!" so tomorrow can't come soon enough. t-minus 12 hours to take off!

As a little goodbye to Australia, we put together this video:

See ya in Canada aye!

Bris to Van

2009-08-20T15:20:00.000+10:00

3 sleeps to go!

Shan

two, two!

2009-08-20T14:38:00.002+10:00

August 20: The packing continues... gah!August 19: Nacho Wednesday!
Sunday is traditionally our nacho night however we wanted to have one more family night before we fly out, leave our seats at the table empty, hand over the dorito packet to someone else (Noah?), etc...

August 18: We had a lunch date with Casslina, The Village People, The Beatles and Kiss.
Hey girls, we'll ride with you anytime!

August 17: Our nephew Noah spent the day with us today.
Isn't it convenient that he fits in our luggage??
He's just so adorable. We love his guts! I miss him already.

Shan

jump! for your love

2009-08-17T20:20:00.005+10:00

August 16: the packing begins (what a mess!)

August 15: We had our engagement party today, at Caboolture Bowls Club. It was a casual evening of lawnbowls and bbq food.
We spent a fabulous night with all our loved ones - we had such a good time chatting and laughing that we hardly took any photos at all! Not to worry, we did get a few and I've posted them here.
We're very grateful to our families and friends for making our evening unforgettable, and truly perfect.
We love you!

Shan

you think you can dance?

2009-08-17T20:15:00.005+10:00

August 14: Here is Zanne and her best friend Michael during their last hoorah, which began with an 11am Kahlua coffee and ended with a bruised hip (the result of a "so you think you can dance?" move gone wrong).
I like this photo - they both look super happy.

August 13: Even better than the last daily pic including wallabies, here are photos of our nephew Noah feeding them over the fence. Actually, I believe it was a "one for you, one for me" situation with the bread. Kewsh.
For the record, Noah calls wallabies (and every other animal) "dog".

Shan

2009-08-17T03:11:00.003+10:00

It's 3am and I can't sleep. Of course I'm thinking about the move and today, about how much I'm going to miss Australia.

In June 2006 I moved to London. I was 23 at the time and had always wanted to go and so one day decided the time was right, I took out a loan (bad choice!), booked a flight and flew out 6 weeks later. About 4 weeks into my trip I got homesick really badly. I missed my mum and dad, I missed my best friend, I was missing out on seeing my nephews grow up and I was struggling with money and my relationship at the time and just wasn't happy. It wasn't the UK trip I had always dreamed of and a big part of me just wanted to come home. I remember one time sitting in the shower and crying because I didn't want anyone to see me and feeling more alone and sad and so far away than I'd ever felt before.

Of course, that feeling passed and I made some really awesome friends and had some of the best times I've ever had, but when I came home 15 months later I was ready. I was ready to settle down for a while and just enjoy being in one place, to get to know all my old friends again and to be close to my family and to meet my 6 month old nephew who had been born while I was away.

But anyone who has travelled understands that the bug soon bites again and I started dreaming of where to go next. When I was in London, the best friends I made were Canadian (and South African and Australian, but mostly Canadian!) and they had said that Canada was a lot like Australia - similar people, similar way of life. Since I love Australia, I knew that if I was to go anywhere else, it would have to be Canada. Then along came the lovely Shan, who had actual concrete plans of moving to Vancouver, and after a short while we decided that we would go together and started the many months of planning.

And that brings us to today - 6 days away from our big move. Our paperwork is in order, the first few weeks of our Vancouver life are planned, parties have been had, goodbyes have been said and the only thing left to do is pack our bags and leave on a jet plane. And of course it's only when the time is so close that you really start to think about everything and everyone you have in your life and how much you're going to miss it all. Having travelled before I know that no matter how prepared you are, and how happy and excited you are to go, you still get homesick.

I know this time around, my experience is going to be completely different. Shan and I have paid off all of our debt and we have all of our paperwork firmly in order so we won't have any stresses back here that we're worrying about. Plus, I love her madly both as a friend and as my fiance, and I can't wait to travel with her, knowing we always have fun no matter where we are or what we're doing. I guess it's just because I have loved our life in Brisbane so much that I'm a little scared of what we're walking away from, especially when I have no idea what to expect in Canada. I have no doubt we're going to have the time of our lives, but I know that there's always that period of adjustment before a new country and city feels like home.

Anyway, I've been rambling for an hour and a half (between checking facebook and reading the news) and I should try to get back to sleep. We're babysitting Noah today and it's Shan's first official day off so I should probably try to get through the day without napping!

Zanne.

the last

2009-08-14T08:54:00.003+10:00

Today is my last day at work - for reals this time! Cowabunga!!

Shan

i call her princess face

2009-08-13T10:14:00.010+10:00

August 12: Today we met our one week old niece, Giselle. Check these photos out - she is BEAUTIFUL!

August 11: When I was travelling in Europe it amused me that people believed the Kangaroos-in-our-backyard stereotype... Well, as it turns out, sometimes the stereotype is true.

Here is a photo my Mum took of some Wallabies hanging out just over the back fence. The Wallaby at the front has a little Joey in her pouch (but it was a bit camera shy). Rad hey?

August 10: Dinner at Kelly and Tarquin's house - mini pizzas yeah!!
Shan

trippy

2009-08-13T10:14:00.005+10:00

We're moving to canada next week. next. week.

In 4 days it will be 'this week'.

As my best friend Michael always says.. I'm trippin'.

Zanne

more Giselle, because I can

2009-08-11T13:00:00.005+10:00

We're finally meeting our new little neice tomorrow and I'm super excited. We bought her lots of essentials (nappies, towels, wet wipes, onesies etc) so we'll travel to the coast tomorrow and hang out with my sis and the baby for the morning. Then hopefully we'll get in for new haircuts. We're both in dire need of a haircut.

Here's a new piccie of little GiselleAnd here's a new piccie of the happy little family!

the readeroutes

2009-08-10T14:06:00.008+10:00

During the course of our planning to relocate to Vancouver we discovered that my friends Chris and Lisa, residents of downtown Vancouver, were planning a post-wedding 7 month tour of the world and were on the lookout for reliable tenants for that period - oh my goodness, timing!! Chris and Lisa were married in June and their backpacking adventure begins tomorrow! Check out their beautiful wedding pics here.

We are super excited to rent the Readeroutes' awesome apartment, and we are so grateful to them for offering us their home. Knowing we don't have to stay in a hostel for the first few weeks and, further, that we'll be collected from the airport by our mutual friend who will hand over their keys and drive us "home", has been an enormous relief. I had a telephone conversation with Lisa recently (so cool to hear her voice after over a year!) and we agree that the timing of it all is great for the both us, however the downside is that we have to wait 'til the end of February next year to hang out together!

Zanne and I send our very best vibes and wishes to Chris and Lisa - happy and safe travels! We're looking very much to hearing your travel stories over a few drinks and some Olympic Games action in February.

Shan

PS. By the by, if you're wondering "why Vancouver?", you can kinda read a bit about that here.

82 years and 9 months - just a phase

2009-08-10T12:12:00.002+10:00

Our friend Kylie forwarded me this pic last week - isn't it awesome?!

Shan

life is a mix up

2009-08-10T11:51:00.007+10:00

August 9: It was a lazy Sunday afternoon with my bros - backyard cricket, a new puppy and chewing the fat.

Here we are at my brother Kris' house. My brother Steven is pictured with Kris' new puppy, Mambo (fyi Steven is Noah's Dad).

Some randoms at The Beat last night told me that my brothers are the biggest names in our home town (it's a long, odd, very random story). I had no idea I was related to celebrities - pfft!

August 8: Fun, fun, fun! We had our goodbye party at The Beat (the best gay bar in Bris Vegas), following pre-drinks at Marie and King Luka's apartment.

I don't know what to say really, it was an awesome night but it was sad to say goodbye to our peeps - even though many of them told us we suck (for leaving, I assume). I'll let the photos speak for themselves I think.

(click on this collage of drunken images to enlarge)

August 7: Here is Zanne and I following my "goodbye" work drinks.

Today was supposed to be my last day of work however my replacement has had some family issues and needs a week off. As a favour to my co-ordinator I agreed to another week of work.

I'm very fond of my co-ordinator so I'm happy to help, but I admit I'm pouting a little on the inside - I was really excited about finishing work. Not to worry.

Shan

Gisellikins

2009-08-07T09:31:00.006+10:00

Little Giselle already has a nickname - Gisellikins. She doesn't know that yet, but we're sure she's going to love it.

Sally and Giselle will be going home from the hospital today, which I'm sure Brandt is really excited for. We know they'll all enjoy being at home together as a family.

Sal sent us this picture of Giselle on Wednesday afternoon. How adorable is she?!

And this one came through last night. I told Shan it looks like Giselle is holding on tight saying "this is my mummy!" Sal said she's feeling better and more confident today. I guess nothing can ever really prepare you for the first time you have your tiny newborn in your arms and you have to work out what to do with them. I know Sal is going to be a great/cool mum!

This new little niece has Shan and I looking for donors, houses and high-paying yet family-friendly jobs in Vancouver...

small and wise

2009-08-07T09:22:00.007+10:00

August 6: Today my workplace threw me a "goodbye morning tea". There was catering, speeches and gifts. It was all very unexpected, especially considering I've only worked here for 6 months! My bosses gave me a scarf and a brooch. My workmates had a collection and gave me the cash in Canadian dollars - score!

It was a lovely morning, I felt very lucky.

August 5: Today was Zanne's last day at work. We celebrated in fabulous style at Ric's.

Note Zanne's use of her bargain tissues in the top right photograph - read about the bargain tissues here. Also note the lovely couple in the bottom right photograph - we met them at some point during the night. They were cool, so we invited them to stay with us in Vancouver.

Shan

the continuing story of bungalow bill

2009-08-05T12:14:00.005+10:00

August 4: Two for One Tuesdays at Gerties.

Tonight we had dinner with our friends Erika & Nick and Cassie & Milena.

Erika & Nick aren't able to attend our goodbye parties but they couldn't escape having dinner with us mwa-ha!

August 3: I babysat our nephew Noah today. Here he is making his phone calls... He dials then walks around the house while chatting. Occasionally he leans against the wall (or the microwave as pictured here) while he attends to his very important business of "babblebabblebabblebabble"

Shan

the realisation that coincidences may have deep meaning

2009-08-05T12:04:00.007+10:00

August 2: Here we are at Gem's Birthday Picnic in New Farm Park

August 1: A far-from-sober night at Dave and Zoe's place.
Timing is funny isn't it? We "meet" a rad crew of people just as we're leaving the country. Bugger. Shan

she's here!

2009-08-05T10:22:00.008+10:00

My sister Sally gave birth to little Giselle Hotere at 3.27am. She weighed 7 pound 1 ounce and is 50cm long. She's a mini version of my sister, right down to her big lips and cute nose. She's our first niece, and therefore the favourite niece from today.

Congrats Sal and Brandt and welcome to the family little one! x

we're going to be an aunties... again!

2009-08-04T17:23:00.007+10:00

ohmygoodness! ohmygoodness! I just got off the phone with my mum and she said my sister Sally is in labour! It's so exciting! We're going to be aunties, again! This time it's a girl so it feels extra special.

Mum said Sally's contractions have moved from 10 minutes apart this morning to 8 minutes apart this evening so she's doing the only thing you do in that situation... going to my mum's place for dinner! I'm guessing her 'nurse knowledge' is keeping her in control. Plus mums place is only a few minutes from the hospital so it will be easy for Sally and Brandt to head there as soon as they need.

I'll post piccies as soon as I have them! wooooobabywooooo!