Happy New Year! What a Year It's Been!

I've been meaning to update this blog for so long, now!!! But as the sun's setting on 2016, I thought that now would be a good time to FINALLY do so! (I also spilled ginger beer on my laptop a while ago, which made it difficult to type! But Robert got me a shiny new laptop for Christmas (one of the new MacBook Pros with the touch bar thingy!), so things are much easier!)

In the time that I haven't posted here, we've had our first Halloween, our first Thanksgiving, the election happened and Christmas has come and gone! What a year it's been. I said on Facebook earlier today that all in all, it's been a good year for our little family. Our move here has been a mostly positive experience. I start my graphic design studies in a few weeks, and the toddler is officially enrolled into pre-school that starts in August! Life just seems to be racing by!

My family was here for a week over Christmas. It certainly didn't last long; felt like I blinked and they were gone. :-( But it was so awesome having them here, and it was SO nice to have a WINTER Christmas! The only downside to that being that it didn't really feel like Christmas in the weeks leading up to it. Despite the Christmas trees, the carols playing in all the stores and the huge amount of decorations around the city, ironically for me, the Summer heat is what makes the Christmas season feel like Christmas. Despite that, both my Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys were pretty good successes!

Looking back, the year really has gone in a flash, but I don't think we really have any regrets. Missing my family is really the only thing that has made things difficult.

The best things have been (in no particular order):

~BALLET is still the no.1 for me. Aside from injuring my foot a couple of times, it's just been a dream come true. I've been doing pointe for almost six months, now (I think?), and I just feel so grateful for the whole opportunity every time I go to a class! I've also become Kathy's graphic designer. LOL. I make online flyers for her, which in turn, is giving me some great design practise (you know what they say: 10000+ hours of something makes you a master in it!).
~The 2 year old boss and I have also made some really lovely friends, which I'm just so happy for. We don't know whether we'll have anymore children, so it's really important to me for the little guy to have friends early on. I'm also incredibly anti-social and was always a really awkward, shy kid, so I just do what I can to encourage the little dude to not be like me! So far, he's much more easygoing than I was as a child, and I'm very glad for that! Haha! Having good friends that we see regularly has also taught him so much! His language skills have improved so much, and he's learned to share!
~AMAZON. LOL!!! Amazon makes life even more convenient. I'm mentioning Amazon here because as of yesterday, I'm so thankful for it! The toddler and I bought Robert a pair of Coach gloves for Christmas (toddler even picked them, himself). But they were the wrong size. We went back to the store yesterday, only to be told that not only did they have none left in stock, but they weren't able to order more as they've stopped making them! We wandered around the city in the hopes of finding another pair from a different store, but I didn't like our chances as they'd gone on sale, so they'd pretty much sold out everywhere! I was so gutted (probably even moreso than Robert!). But we had a chance look on Amazon and found they had ONE pair left! So I was very happy and am now more appreciative than ever of Amazon. LOL!!!
~All the kids' facilities and activities available here. The Bay Area has (so far) been an awesome place in which to raise a family!
~The adventure of it all. From just being in a brand new place to learning to drive on the opposite side of the road to exploring, it's really been a fantastic experience for someone as unadventurous as I am!
~People are generally quite friendly. Unless you're on the road in which people simply become impatient douchebags.
~The appreciation for the arts. Enough said.
~The opportunities available to Robert and his career. Also enough said.
~The city's multiculturalism. Also something that's very important to me.
~The convenience of everything. Whether you're wanting ice cream delivered in the next couple of hours or you're looking to study, it seems that everything's available here. Of course, the flipside of that being that it really makes you feel spoilt. I feel like a spoilt brat of the world, especially compared to what so many others are going through these days. I'm not an overly religious person, but I find myself saying little prayers to myself (or God or whoever's up there) everyday for the fortunate life we lead. It's scary to see how easily it can all be taken away, so I'm grateful everyday for the blessings I've got.
~Living in a country where everything seems relevant. Whether it's a TV show you're watching or politics, I feel like we live in a place where I'm immersed in what we see on TV, online, or wherever else. Maybe that's thanks to the media, but it's sort of exciting to see things and think 'yeah, I get that now', or even 'crap, how's that going to affect us now?' (in RE: to the recent election). I've found myself caring a lot more about world happenings since I feel like they're a little more relevant to our lives now.
~Feeling like an anonymous nobody. This sounds a bit strange, but I like cities. And I like feeling like I don't know anyone or that there's a big chance of me running into people I know. I like anonymity, and that was something I looked forward to in having a new start. For some reason, anxiety really kicks in living in a small town or the country, especially if it means I constantly have to see people that I need to make small talk with. Yes, I'm anti-social, yes, socialising makes me incredibly anxious if it's random, but hey, that's just the way I am. Sigh...

And I'm sure there's more. However, I've had my annual new year's drink and I'm already feeling the effects. I have no idea how I've managed to type this much!

So in saying that, I wish anyone reading this a very HAPPY NEW YEAR! I really hope that 2017 is fantastic for you. Thank you so much for reading/following this blog. Hopefully I'll make more regular posts in the new year!

xoxo

Cayuga Playground and Pointe!!!

Before I say anything, this shooting in Orlando is very sad. I honestly don't know why this country feels the need for guns. Events like these not only end and ruin lives, but they bring out the worst in people; the Donald Trumps within. I only hope some new laws are implemented soon, but how many of these events need to happen before change happens? I don't want one of my family members to be a next victim, and I'm sure most people feel the same; so why the guns? I just don't understand...

*****

That said, we spent part of the weekend at Cayuga Playground. :-) I wanted to check out some "hidden gems" in the city, so thought this would be good since it's also child-friendly (your outings become somewhat limited with a child in tow!). It was a lovely park, despite the trains passing by every few minutes overhead. Wooden sculptures are all over the place, and kids can run and hide through the gardens. Our toddler did a bit of exploring, himself. :-) Anyway, I'm not very good with the words right now, so here are some pictures:

In other news, I BOUGHT MY VERY FIRST PAIR OF POINTE SHOES TODAY!!! I know I keep raving on and on about ballet, so if you're really uninterested in it, you can stop reading right now. Ha... But seriously, I'm very excited about this!!! My teacher was aiming for me to get them around the end of the month, but after I got frustrated during the week at my lack of progress (or perceived lack of progress), she thought I should go get them now. She's also trying to have me starting pointe by the time mum comes to visit in a few weeks, which I thought was so lovely. She teaches thousands of us, but manages to remember that my mum's coming to visit in a few weeks' time. ^_^ I thought that was so sweet. 

This is a big deal for me. :-) I really didn't think I'd ever get the opportunity to do ballet again, let alone get on pointe! 

Aaaaaand now I'm going to go sleep. We have two school tours this week lined up for the toddler. It will surely be interesting. :-) 

xoxo

Three Months In!

As of a few days ago, we've now been living in San Francisco for THREE MONTHS!!! It's gone so quickly, yet also feels like it's been decades since we saw Sydney. There are definitely things that we've really been loving, and things that are less desirable. 

Things I/we love have included:

~The convenience of this city and country. Robert's developed an Amazon addiction; he's bought a lot off there so far, and I guess I can't argue with their slightly cheaper prices and quick delivery! But aside from online services, there's just everything right outside our door. Literally. 

~BALLET!!! As I've mentioned before, it's something that I simply thought I'd never do again as there aren't really any accessible adult classes in Sydney. It has really been a small dream come true for me. 

~The city's diversity. Regardless of your racial background, your gender, sexuality or whatever else, San Francisco is pretty accepting of anyone. Which is very important to me and can make or break a place for me. I've had a few experiences in my life of very non-diverse places and they've just been horrible for me. I'll never go back to that. So it's great to be living in (probably) one of the few cities that don't support Donald Trump "values". 

~SNOOPY!!! Most people know how much I love Snoopy. More of this to follow when I've finished going through some photos..!

~It's been amazing to see Robert in the hub of his industry. I can definitely see how much more opportunity is here for his career. (If anyone's interested in a hilarious parody of SF and the tech industry, watch Silicon Valley. The humour can be pretty crude at times, but it's hilarious, whether you're a techie or not! It's the only thing I watch on a weekly basis!)

~Arts support! I love, love, LOVE how SF tries to really value the arts and artists of various types. I feel like things I do and love are actually legit here. If we do stay here, I look forward to (hopefully) building myself a career in a place that might actually take me seriously!

~The Kids' Creativity Museum. This place is a few blocks away from where we live, and it's basically been a second home to our toddler and me! Since I'm (still) not really confident enough to drive on my own, he and I walk everywhere during the week. This place is awesome.

~The playgrounds here are so great. They're all gated (anyone with a toddler would understand how useful this is!), and the equipment is mostly awesome! 

~The real estate. OK, the prices of real estate here are HORRIBLE, but I like the style of the homes around here. We don't live in one, but the old Victorian style I really like. 

~It's similar to Sydney, but also different. This is good because I wanted/needed an adventure, but I'm not adventurous enough to live in a place that's too different to what I'm used to. I didn't want to have to learn another language or bring a family up in a place that's just completely foreign to me. 

~THE LACK OF GIANT BUGS AND SPIDERS!!! As someone with a big phobia of bugs, I'm much less afraid of nature here. Haha!

~The weather. It's so much more temperate than Sydney. We're in the middle of Spring, and most days are quite cool.

And then on the other hand, less desirable things have been:

~As mentioned above, the real estate costs here are AWFUL. Whether you're buying or renting. We thought Sydney was expensive; Sydney is cheap in comparison.

~Coffee and cheese are terrible here. I don't think Americans understand either.

~Being so far away from family. This was always going to be an obvious one. Sure, we've regularly been Skyping my family, and Robert's mum's learnt how to use her phone to message him. We share videos via Facebook chat with my sister in law of all our kids, and we also use TinyBeans (a calendar for privately sharing photos and videos of your family) with our immediate family, where we upload pics and videos daily. But it's not the same as being able to see them in person. And I miss them a lot. (Can someone please hurry up and make teleportation a thing?!!!) Plus, if something happens to someone, we obviously can't rush to help and vice versa. ALSO, and this is most important, WE DON'T HAVE ANY BABYSITTERS! Haha. I know there are apps and services available to find babysitters, but I don't trust people, let alone someone to look after my child! The only people I would have left him with in Sydney were my parents, my mother in law (if she lived closer), my sister and my sister in law (if she'd lived closer, also). And that was in Sydney! I just don't trust people. Ha...

~Parts of this city are rather dirty. Sydney wasn't perfect, but I think with the homeless issue here and the fact that so many people have pets, the place can get a bit dirty. I think they try to keep it as clean as possible, which is much appreciated, but there's only so much you can do sometimes!

~Driving. I dunno if I'm ever going to be used to everything being backwards!!

~The possibility of earthquakes. Don't think I need to say more!

I was going to post some pictures from our trip to the SCHULZ MUSEUM the other day, but I haven't finished going through them and my laptop's very slow at the moment, so I think I'll keep that for a separate post. :-) 

Three months. Time's flying by too quickly! 

xoxo