Dearest all
Some of you have not heard from me in eons!! Some of you, see me all the time!
My previous reputation as great correspondent has dwindled, so I am rectifying that situation with the following hair raising exciting account of the Life and Times of J9 this year!!! Note I wrote this before Christmas as my 'christmas card' although didn't quite finish it until now .... enjoy!
2006. Day 1.
2006 began waking up in a tent at The Falls Festival, in Tasmania! A 3 day 2 night musical extravaganza, in a farmer's paddock right by the beautiful Marian Bay on Tassie's east coast.
Who was in my tent? Paul of course, my wonderful partner. Who was in the neighbouring tents? (Apart from thousands of strangers) Paul's 21 yo son Pete and his girfriend Sharlene, Paul's 17 yo son Aaron and his girfriend Helen, and 16 yo daughter Melanie in her own private tent!
The whole family had come down to Tas for Christmas! Yes, I now have a 'whole family' to bring to Tassie!! What an interesting concept!! See some of the christmas photos ... (click on the ALBUM below then click on slideshow)
So back to the tent in the morning ... Paul and I awoke bright 'n' early to catch our bus to the airport ... we left the kids with the car ready for their road trip back to Sydney, then backpacked our way over the paddocks to the awaiting bus, which would arrive us at the airport in plenty of time for our flight ... back to Sydney.
A record 50 degrees awaited us in Sydney that day!! Holy cow! PERFECT clothes drying weather ... as we needed to wash it all, get it dried (5 mins flat) and re-pack for our international flight to .... HONOLULU!!! whoo hoo.
The Mystery Tour .... Hawaii .... Colorado
We signed up mid-2005 for a mystery tour. All we knew was that we'd meet a select group of people in Denny's car park, in Durango, Colorado at 9am on January 5. The 'tour' would go for five days ... and we'd do lots of wildernessy stuff and meet/learn about Native Americans. Where the hell is Durango anyway?
You can imagine our absolute dismay when we went to book our tickets to Colorado a few months earlier, and the cheapest flight we could get was on Hawaiian airlines ... via Hawaii! And what? we get a free internal flight to any Hawaiian Island of our choice?? Tragic.
So our one week holiday turned into a month. Honolulu was just gorgeous. Everyone is there on holiday, and surf and sun abounds... as do burgers (medium rare, medium or well done madam? - huh?). And the waves are perfect .. and come in every variety. Our desires to learn surfing, whilst not fulfilled were definintely fuelled..... the gentle waves carrying malibus at Waikiki. And the huge surf on the North Shore of Oahu.
Night one, Paul and I managed to have our first major wing danger of an argument, a bit pissed, at around midnight for goodness knows how long, from our 20th floor hotel room looking over
Waikiki!!! If only we'd had a recording, it would have been hilarious on replay as we acrobatted and verbalised ourselves around the room, hurling verbal disappointments and accusations at each other from god knows how long ago!!! Hmm ... with that out in the open ....
Amongst the idyllic backdrop, we glossed over it by day, enjoyed two nights, then on night three (the night of my 34th bithday), after a sunset cocktail at the Sheraton on the beach, we flew to Colorado.
The Da Vinci Code kept the flight short for me, and we arrived in Durango early afternoon on the 4th. Rather a lot chillier than Hawaii, and in my heart, I was wishing I was still in the sun.... And, the mountains and snow were awesome, the friendly locals and the boutique pubs definitely made up for any loss of sun. :)
The next four days were full of hot springs, wonderful people, mountains, native american history, a real live bear tracker, a native american sweat lodge full of traditinal ceremony, and the best bit of all, Richard Running Dear ... a true-blue Medicine man. This blog won't do that encounter justice, lets just say he had an eternity in his eyes, and so much to share.
We hired a car and drove to New Mexico, and even went skiing for a day. Great fun!
Alright this is getting a bit long ... we went back to Hawaii, Maui this time for four nights, we enjoyed dolphins, whales, snorkelling, wine, sun, waves ... Paul and I were beginning to actually feel reconciled! Then ....
Back to work
Then, we returned after our month, energised and ready to go. ... Paul to his Telecommunications company, and me to my job in Road Safety Speed Management at the RTA.
Yes, we set speed limits, run the speed cameras, and stuff like that, and watch each morning as the daily fatality stats grace our email boxes with the previous day's mis-guided driving pursuits and their casualties :(
Paul, Relationships and a house
Paul and I split up mid-year ... amongst many tears, only to re-unite three and a half weeks later madly in love, with a decision to 'do this properly and move in'!........ gulp. (After all it had been two and a half years). We found a whole new house to move in to in Annandale, the inner west of Sydney, and I now live with Peter, Sharlene, Aaron, Helen (most of the time), Melanie part time, and Sharlene's brother Ryan ... one big happy family in our big happy terrace house .... did I find that a tough adjustment to make? aha!!! And I'm now feeling settled, loving, stressed at times, and frequently amused by the goings on in the house.
We warmed our house with a psychedelic 60's housewarming party, that everyone really enjoyed. Paul is officially THE BEST AUSTIN POWER IMPERSONATOR! I've ever met, and me, I just went for big hair, croche'd hotpants and boots. Everyone went to so much effort do dress up ... my hair was a real hair piece compliments from my Mum ... she used to actually wear it in the 6os!
One of my regular trips to visit the Home land ... TASMANIA
No year is complete without a couple of trips at least to Tassie to visit my family. Particularly Mum, who is wonderful, and rather challenged by her health. She doesn't let it stop her though, as you'll see from these photies on my sister's boat 'down the huon' ... keep your eyes out for dolphins too!
This was a 15 minute drive from my sister's house!!! Notice the byoootiful views. Tassie is soooo wonderful....
You can take the girl out of Tassie ....
Farewell to my job and business here I come ....
I quit my job at the RTA in October ... couldn't stand it any longer, and decided it was time to do my web business in earnest. Paul is supporing me 'in transition', a fact for which I am truly grateful. AND I have my first web site up!! I am developing affiliate marketing sites (short version - someone elses web shop front, pay you comissions for directing people to their site). The game? Find a hot niche, build a site around it, drive traffic to it, then pocket the commissions. No customers, no products!!
Yoga teacher? ... yes, me!
I have embarked on becoming a yoga teacher ... in power vinyasa flow. I love it! I've been practising very regularly now for five years. The training began with an 8 day intensive live-in retreat, and now I am learning how to assist in classes - i love the hands on, and getting back in touch with movement and my body ... it has all been a desk, a computer and a cubicle for wayyyy too long!! The next steps are learning our anatomy and physiology, then three weeks of full on learning how to sequence classes and actual teaching practice. Then I will be unleashed into the world of qualified teaching!
Lets go surfing now .....
Paul and I have notched up surf lesson number four, at none other than Bondi Beach, and we have two surfboards strapped to the top of the Prado ... and two kayaks ... ready for our road trip to Tasmania for Christmas (minus the kids and plus our newly orphaned Richard who just separated from his marriage). We sail tomorrow from Melbourne tomorrow night ... can't wait!!
The Experience
What else? I still love supporting the Experience, and am assisting. It does support me to be on track in my life!! Paul is coordinating the whole thing now!!! So I am being a support to him on that..... and I love sharing it with the people in my life (wink wink nudge nudge for those of you who have not yet come ... :)
Que mas? (What else in spanish)
* My belly still expands and contracts regularly - i still love my food waaay too much!
* We eat largely organic now from a co-op just down the road
* Paul and I talk frequently about building our straw-bale house on a bush property in Tasmania
* I think frequenly of going back to study natural therapies or teaching!
* I am banning black from my wardrobe (well - seriously reducing it anyway).
* I stood up on a surfboard quite a few times!
* I still like to ride my bike around!
* My car 'Barney' is happy and healthy (bar a 'pizza hut delivery boy imprint in front left panel'!).
* I can shed a tear at the drop of a hat, and laugh in fits just as quickly!
* I looove my large soy latte EVERY day....
Ummm ...
* I've even been meditating pretty regularly, on a cushion on our bedroom balcony!
Thank you for reading this far! Write to me!! Or put a comment on this blog :)
I promise I am being a great correspondent and friend this year.
Lots of Love
Janine
