road trippin'

            happy snaps from what was a happy drive (for the most part!) from melbourne to brisbane.

(l) a virgin blue plane that flew over the top of us 30 minutes into driving. i thought it was symbolic.        

(r) matt was the main driver for the trip which made my life nice and easy.

(l) taking it easy (see above caption) in the passenger seat with all my gear packed in tightly.

(r) the blue skies on our first day. i thought the one way sign was cool too for some reason.

(l) jess, the official roadtrip photographer, showing off her skills! (check out my frown)

(r) a big submarine that we passed. i made matt turn around so i could go and climb on it. 

(l) me inside the sub, feeling like a young kid on a road trip again.

(r) by chance brother matt was travelling on the same highway 10 mins ahead so we stopped for lunch.

(l) a glimpse of the pretty wine region we passed through, the southern highlands.

(r) at the kiama 'blow hole', a hole in the rocks where the water surges up and out of.

(l) my bright white feet against the rocks at kiama

(r) matt staring down into the ocean thinking about fishing or diving no doubt

(l) one sleepy driver. this was our last stop where we stayed in yamba.

(r) just some clouds... just because.

brotherly love

matthew james roney

jessica lee roney

little brother and big sister

(no matter how old we are)

good and bad

today was a combination of good and bad.
good = beautiful dinner at a spanish tapas restaurant with naomi.
bad = being locked out of the house and having to climb through a window.
it's saturday tomorrow, hooray for that.

rain

brisbane was trying to imitate melbourne today, 4 seasons in one day! this morning was really hot and sunny, then at about 3pm it started absolutely pouring! i'm glad i didn't get stuck in it. now looking out the window from work the clouds are parting and there is blue sky again.. and that means i can walk to my car and not get drenched. always a plus. another work day gone. off to go late night shopping with the besties.

touch

off to touch! looking and feeling the part in my uniform. it will be great running around again. i hope i haven't forgotten the basics! i'm playing with matt, his friend and some people from work.

footprints in the sand

matt keeps signing a certain song and even though it drives me crazy i do love the lyrics. they go like this... 'footprints in the sand, change of plans, make a new one take my hand, we're young we're live, chasing the memories not enough time, so i keep a picture in my wallet of you.' they remind me of my decision to move back - to change my plans, to walk on the beach again, to be with matt and to make memories.

sleepy

very sleepy tonight after a big weekend. early bed time for me. nothing interesting to post about really. i'm going to get a cuddle from matt and fall asleep instead.

driving back

just had a nightmare drive home from noosa to brisbane. lots of rain and was feeling very tired. won't be doing that again anytime soon. had the best weekend though. went to the markets, had ice cream along the beach, went shopping on hastings, watched a dvd, saw rach at her triathlon event, had breakfast in mooloolaba, spent time with matt, cleaned the car, saw grandma, baked cookies, hung with alyce, picked flowers, played with meg, took lots of photos, did things with mum, searched for new cars with dad, had an amazing fresh fish dinner and much, much, much more. weekends at home are the best. just wish they didn't have to end :(

memory lane

my last two weeks have been a long walk down memory lane. i've been into myer where i used to work, walked through roma st and central station and driven past my uni. everywhere in brisbane reminds me of something or someone from when i lived here throughout uni. it's nice but also strange. some things have changed significantly and other things have stayed exactly the same. it reminds me a little bit of when i went to my primary school years after i had left and there were new buildings, new teachers and new kids. back then i was sad that it wasn't exactly as i remembered it but (i think!) i'm a little bit less sentimental now. if anything, the changes have left me feeling like a tourist in my own home town which is highly amusing for matt! i keep getting lost on my way back to his house when i go grocery shopping alone.  it's quite the adventure. i've now lived on most sides of brisbane, corinda, paddington, on the river in quay st and woolloongabba. matt's lived in milton, the valley, kedron and now in woolloongabba with me! then there's all the places my friends have lived.. teneriffe, new farm, bulimba, kelvin grove and more. it's really lovely being back in brissy, passing through all of those suburbs (even if they do look a bit different now) and being reminded of so many fun times.

friday and friends

am spending my friday night with these two lovely ladies. 

 kahli and naomi.

messages of love and support

                                   

it's wonderful to know that you have the love and support of your family behind you. my family was so proud of me and my brand new job at virgin that they each wrote a message on a virgin blue baggage tag and left them hanging on my bedroom door in noosa as a suprise for when i next visited. that was on top of the texts, phonecalls and emails during the interview process and beyond. talk about special. click on the above baggage tag to read their messages and see just how lovely and thoughtful they all are.



routine

i almost forgot to blog.. again! i guess i have more going on after work now. when i was in melbourne i had all the time in the world to do it. now it feels like there is no time in between the dosmetic duties. there is double the washing, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, lunch preparing and just general life organising! i am getting into a good routine though. i leave the house nice and early, take packed lunches and leave work on time. now to just start some exercise. i've signed up for a triathlon in a month, a 100000 step challenge at work and joined a touch team. not sure how i'll fit it all in but it should be fun! and part of moving back was to lead a fitter and healthier lifestyle. so that's what i'm doing.. getting active, eating healthy and hopefully still finding time to blog!

in the air

♥

bus fun

i caught the bus home today. and i caught it with matt! i don't think either of these things have happened for at least 3 years. it was great fun... until i forgot about swiping off with my 'go card'. i held the bus up for a good five minutes while searching through my big bag for this tiny card. matt thought it was hilarious from outside the bus and when i finally got off successfully he was trying really hard not to burst out laughing. it was pretty funny.. but also mortifying for me - holding all those poor people up! sorry bus riders, i'm out of practice.

oh no

oh no! i just realised i didn't do a blog post yesterday! i must have been in holiday mode and forgot. i'm spending the weekend in noosa with matt and our families and it feels like i'm on christmas holidays! i'm disappointed i've already broken my 365 day rule but it's ok, it wasn't because i didn't feel like it.. it was because i was having too much fun in the sun! it's so lovely here, i wish i lived in noosa and not brisbane. i think i'll end up spending lots of weekends here. i did get a little (ok, a lot) sunburnt yesterday. i forgot that i have white melbourne skin and i burnt in probably ten minutes! today will be spent fishing with matt! i'm already coated in sunscreen. it certainly feels like summer and i'm loving every second of it.

little red

feel like sharing this lovely song on this rainy friday night. i'm all tucked up at mum and dads house.

thursday night at home

it's thursday night and the week is almost over! my first week of living in brisbane, working at virgin and being back with matt has been awesome. i'm looking forward to many more weeks and months and years here! feeling happy and in high spirits tonight. life is good. last night with the girls was lots of fun. nothing beats laughing with them about anything and everything. we've been friends forever and will stay friends forever. boyfriend, friends, family and queensland = home!

sushi

very much looking forward to

good sushi and good friends tonight.

over it

i'm so over not having the internet! blogging on my iphone is painful and i hate to think about what it's doing to my phone bill. i have so much new and wonderful stuff to write about but can't. not to mention photos to upload and thoughts and memories to record. not having a day off in between jobs has made it hard to get my personal life here organised. the new job at virgin is going great though. everyone is helpful and lovely, and they seem really organised which is refreshing. my role is very new to me too so it's nice having a fresh start and learning new skills. although my hours are shorter i was so tired last night. you can see it in my post, it even looks like i dozed off for a bit! i won't go back and fix it though as it's a true reflection of how i felt! i actually feel rather exhausted now too. it's probably my new early starts. i was in a bad habit of waking up at 8am in melbounre and now my alarm meanly goes off at 6:30! i'm trying to be as less girly as possible at my new house. it must be weird for the boys to start seeing hair ties pop up everywhere and to have their shower fill up with all kinds of products. i'm quickly realising how good i had it living with josh and lu. last night i couldn't find a sharp knife to save myself! i miss the luxury of having any utensil i need or want and of course the joys of wireless internet!! thursday night i am buying some form of internet and catching up on some much missed and loved blogging. i need to recount my final dinner with my melbourne friends, my emotional last day at myer, my roadtrip, my flooding experience, my first day at virgin, my feelings about my first days of being back and no doubt my reunion dinner with my brisbane besties tomorrow night! stay tuned!!

tired

don't feel up to blogging tonight.. so tired, just want to close my eyes a
and go to sleep..

5 years

happy 5 year anniversary matt. i am a very lucky girl.

welcome home

today is my 5th anniversary with matt so it was very fitting that today should also be the day that i arrive back in queensland to live. the further north we travelled on our trip home the more it rained! and melbourne had sunny weather all weekend of course! i didn't mind so much as i love the rain just as much as the sun. matt ran me a beautiful spa bath at my new abode. it looks out into the trees and sky through a big window. it was lovely being in the hot water watching the rain fall and a cool breeze coming through. before my bath i went for a walk around the area and found the train station for my first day at work tomorrow. it's exciting and scary!

exploring

yesterday, after hours of highway driving, we finally passed through some gorgeous quaint little towns. sutton forest, moss vale and kiama are picturesque. it's amazing how many places there would be like this around australia. kiama reminds me of yamba, very coastal, quiet and chilled out. there is ocean everywhere and it's very calming to be around nature again after months of city living. next stop: port macquarie then yamba!

on the road

it has been a whirlwind few days and i am dying to post about it but haven't had the time to do it justice. so i'll save up my stories until i arrive back in queensland. matt and i are currently driving through nsw and the landscape is beautiful. it has a very 'australian' look and feel, kind of like being back in the time of bushrangers! lots of gum trees, creeks, rolling green hills and purple and yellow flowers everywhere. i'm also on the lookout for newborn lambs! we don't have too much time for stopping along the way for this leg of the trip but we did catch up with my brother just past wagga which was really lovely. we hope to be in the seaside town of kiama by 8. i still can't believe it's all happening but i'm happy that it is.

a little blue box

i have such beautiful and thoughtful friends

shona

had a lovely dinner at borsch, vodka and tears with my beautiful friend shona. the exhaustion of being out each night and working long days is setting in but that's ok because seeing my favourite people one last time is all worth it. i still can't believe it was our last catch up before i go. i'm so used to seeing her each week and will miss her funny stories and just talking about anything and everything. she's a keeper.

♥

morning at maccas

back at maccas! this time it's a coffee and hashbrown. hopefully it fixes me up before another day at work!

midnight at maccas

this is a night of firsts.. my first blog post via my iphone and my first blog post a little, ok maybe a lot, drunk. i'm at mcdonalds, my first real job by the way, eating a small (and delicious) fries. i figure i may not make it home in time for todays post so i decided to make the most of free wi fi and a post cider drinking snack. it's rather difficult, especially when my iphone wants to use correct grammar and i make a point of writing all my posts in lower case.. much to the disappointment of my grandmas i'm sure! tonight was positively awesome, catching up with carly is always fun and tonight was no exception. good coversation, great music in the background.. both recipes for a wonderful last monday night in melbourne. i don't have much battery left so goodnight all, sleep tight. i may have to log on in the morning to make sure no sneaky capital letters got through!

the last one

my last weekend living in melbourne was over almost as soon as it had arrived but it was lovely.

saturday was a rather self indulgent day as most of my time was spent at a day spa! i was fully pampered with a hair cut, colour and blow dry followed by an amazing 45 minute massage (in which i think i may have dozed off), facial and mini pedicure. despite leaving there extremely sleepy i then caught up with kathleen and shane for a pear cider in the glorious sunshine at world. after sharing the tales of our weekend adventures, kathleen and i headed to our next destination: ice cream. as we enjoyed our waffle cones overlooking the yarra we could hear cheers coming all the way from the afl grand final (part 2) at the mcg. the last time the pies won a grand final 20 something years ago my dad was at the game! saturday night saw me wandering down an alleyway (that was off another alleyway!) trying to find a well hidden bar that shona and some other friends were at. i finally found it after navigating past a great deal of garbage but only stayed for 2 glasses of wine. it did make me think of just how many bars melbourne has tucked away that i never got to visit.

sunday proved to have just as beautiful weather as on saturday. after some toast and coffee at home i headed out (in shorts and sunglasses!) to balaclava for some lunch with ariella. we went to an awesome place called las chicas and i had a breakfast burrito (even though it was lunch) that had bacon, scrambled egg, rocket and aioli topped with avocado and fresh tomato salsa.. yum!! over our food and fresh juices and in the sunshine of the courtyard we fully caught up on each others lives. i then explored the shops a little and despite my best efforts not to purchase anything, i did buy a dainty daisy necklace. i think i did well given the amount of gorgeous things i came across. that afternoon i wandered around the city and lay on the grass in front of the state library reading the paper. after the sun started disappearing behind buildings and clouds i decided i felt like going home to my apartment and hopping onto my air mattress and under my doona. so this is where i am now. just relaxing and unwinding, waiting for josh and lu to get home so we can have a nice dinner together. all in all a pretty perfect ending to 2 and half years of melbourne weekends.

happy birthday

happy birthday to my darling friend naomi who turns 23 today. yay for birthdays, aren't they just the best.

charming

today we had a farewell afternoon tea for myself and my manager david. when it was my turn to say some words i couldn't help feeling emotional and of course there were tears. myer has been a second home and the people that i work with have been a second family. i'm sad to leave behind such a big part of my life, as well as my online work which i am very passionate about. as a parting present i received these two beautiful pandora charms. the m represents myer and the horseshoe is for good luck. i absolutely love them and they will always remind me of a very special time in my career and life.