I miss this.

I cannot promise the sappy, I-miss-Australia posts won't go on for a while, but bear with me. The post-traveling blues have hit me hard, and even though I am back to feeling normal and smiling at the fact that I'm lucky enough to live in as beautiful a state as Colorado, I left a piece of my heart behind in Australia. I want to say that I specifically left it in Sydney because stepping off of the plane in Sydney felt like coming home, but there's a bit scattered up in North Queensland, too, simply because there are lovely memories there.

I miss uninterrupted time with my best friend. The sense of complete understanding and acceptance between she and I is overwhelmingly powerful and comforting.

I miss all of the new friends that I made; truly fabulous people who embraced me as their own and showed me the time of my life.

I miss the vibrant, yet calming pulse of Sydney.

I miss every day feeling like a new, little adventure. I didn't need to know where I was or where I was going all the time; everything was fine so long as we were laughing and having a good time.

What looks like crazy on an ordinary day...

We danced too wild, and we sang too long, we hugged too hard, and we kissed too sweet. We howled just as loud as we wanted to howl because by now we were all old enough to know that what looks like crazy on an ordinary day looks a lot like love if you catch it in the moonlight.
-Pearl Cleage-

Random thoughts ATM

- I love the way my car smells strongly of fresh pineapple after I've bought one at the grocery store.

- The orange tulips from meine Mutti are gorgeous on my dining room table.

- I have the best Mutti!

- In honor of Australia and my intense love for the country, I'm going to become an Aussie wine snob. Lindeman's Shiraz-Cabernet is currently topping my list.

- Today's imaginary bestie date: jogging through The Domain in Sydney followed by sushi and wine picnic-style overlooking the Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

- I really need to start blogging about my trip, but I haven't even uploaded my pics yet for fear of becoming melancholy over not being in Australia...soon!

- That being said, I'm falling back in love with Colorado again, so the world is beginning to right itself.

- I may actually believe in the saying "distance makes the heart grow fonder" right now...both in terms of where I live and with the boy.

- Every time I watch Tangled my heart smiles. I love Flynn and Maximus.

-There was something invigorating and freeing about being single in a new, international city.

- Skype truly is a fabulous invention.

- Current song obsession: "Young Blood" by The Naked and Famous. Check it out.

Greetings from the Land Down Under

Hey, everyone! I just wanted to pop on and say a quick hello. I haven't really had a chance to read anyone's blogs, nor do a post of my own, but I'm still alive and having the most amazing time! Australia has unexpectedly stolen my heart and I think it may break a little when I have to leave on Saturday. Sydney has especially won me over; the minute I stepped out of the airport I felt instantly at home in the city. On the other hand, North Queensland, where I am now, is a bit too humid and tropical for my tastes, but the landscape is truly gorgeous. I can't wait to share all of my adventures and pictures with you all!

Fill in the blank Friday

The time has come for me to embark on my Australian adventure, and I'm not sure how often I'll be able to pop onto Blogger in the next 2 weeks. If I can, I am going to try to post a few hello's while I'm gone, but just in case I had to leave you all with some of the lovely Lauren's blanks.

Happy Friday, lovelies!

1. Something that makes me a great friend is, that I care for the people in my life with my whole heart. Friendship, as with any other relationship, is an earned trust and once that's established I will stand up for my friends, laugh and cry with them, and make them an integral part of my life.

2. I am starting to get nervous for my trip tomorrow. Up until this point I really haven't had any butterflies in my stomach, but they are starting to flutter around a bit. Eek! No worries, though, I am far more excited than I am nervous.

3. I am not a patient driver. In fact, my family is convinced that I have driving anger management issues, but in reality I just hate when slow people get in my way. I really need to work on this...

4. If I had to describe myself in 3 words, they would be emotional, indepedent and loyal.

5. Something I'm really cheap about is books. As I've blogged about before, I read entirely too much to pay full price for my books. I have no qualms about using the library, hunting down books in used shops and waiting for a book I really want to read to land in the bargain bins. My Barnes and Noble membership (thanks, Mutti) discount and additional coupons are fabulous, too!

6. Something I'm willing to splurge on is travel. There are lots of ways to travel cheaply, but almost any kind of long distance travel requires a chunk of money. Traveling is vital enough to my sanity that I'm willing to budget and splurge on trips.

7. I would trade nothing for any kind of change in a heartbeat. At this exact moment in time, I am perfectly content. I don't need to change a thing, and therefore, I don't need to make any trade-offs. (Note: ask me this again in an hour and my answer may be different.)

Kate Spade Wedding Belles

Kate Spade's new Wedding Belles collection is quickly making the internet and blogging rounds, and I have fallen in love with the Aubrey Wrap Dress! How perfect is this dress for a sweet, intimate City Hall ceremony? The ruffles and the bow kind of make me swoon. Add a simple bouquet, some pretty jewelry and a fun pair of heels and you have my dream wedding outfit. So lovely!

True love is rare.

While love is common, true love is rare, and I believe that few people are fortunate enough to experience it. The roads of regular love are well-traveled and their markers are well understood by many- the mesmerizing attraction, the ideational obsession, the sexual afterglow, the profound self-sacrifice, and the desire to combine DNA. But true love takes its own course through unchartered territory. It knows no fences, eludes modern measurement, and seems scientifically woolly. But I know true love exists. I just can't prove it.

-David Buss-

from The Evolution of Desire

One Week

The countdown has officially begun: in one week, I will be boarding a plane at LAX to spend an ungodly number of hours flying over the Pacific, on my way to AUSTRALIA!

In one week, I will be about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime.

In one week, I will get to spend 2 uninterrupted weeks with my best friend. This hasn't happened in over a year, and I am so excited.

In one week, I will be exploring Sydney, drinking coffee and tea, eating fresh seafood at the fish market, sipping Australian wine and snapping photos at the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. Then I will be heading up to Townsville (near the Great Barrier Reef) to see where Jamie calls home, meet her friends, pretend I know how to drive a stick shift on the left side of the road and soak up lots of sun.

In one week, I will get a much-needed break from my life and hopefully come back refreshed and better in-tune with myself again.

"A woman can reinvent or erase her history entirely when she travels. This is one of the great benefits of leaving home."

-from Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani

...And then I couldn't put down the Sookie Stackhouse novels...

Fill in the blank Friday

1. The best prank I ever pulled was pretty much the only prank I've ever pulled: I scared the crap out of a friend with a very realistic rubber lizard. My dad likes lizards and my parents have a few rubber ones in their side garden. One of these, whom I named Lizzie long ago, is large (think komodo dragon) and honestly looks like a real lizard, and I didn't tell my friend we were getting close to where Lizzie was placed and she freaked when she saw it. It was cruel, but funny.

2. The best prank ever pulled on me was either non-existant or just not coming to mind right now. I can't really think of any true pranks that have been pulled on me, although I am sure there have been run-ins with fake spiders or something like that.

3. A day without positive human interaction and time alone with your thoughts is a day wasted.

4. The most important things in life are the people who are your family. Not just blood relations, but the true friends in your life who are always there for you. You get to pick who you surround yourself with, so choose wisely and never take them for granted.

5. I dream of traveling the world, learning to cook exotic recipes, falling love, visiting Paris just to shop at Shakespeare and Company bookstore, getting married, most likely having a baby or two, continuing my education, living next door to my bestie with a giant shared backyard...the usual sorts of things.

6. I dread confrontation these days. Obviously my answer is entirely biased by this week's work drama, but until it all gets sorted, confrontation and appropriate solutions are on my mind.

7. A discovery I made this week was when you pull your calf muscle, you really should go easy on it for a few days. This means not using the elliptical to see if you can outpace your last work-out, not riding the stationary bike and possibly choosing to wear flats instead of wedges to work. Sorry, left calf muscle...at least I took it easy last night.