The good, the bad and the bitching!

The house hunt is officially on. We saw two yesterday, and I fell in love with one.

This picture does it no justice because it has beautiful parquetry floors, bright lighting, clean walls, modern kitchen and a big big bedroom with that big big cupboard!

We applied today, and this is when we find out if we will have an easy time or a tough one! Ben hasn’t rented for a little while and I’m coming out of a lease break, but the agent loves me so I won’t have a problem if they ask her about me. I just hope they didn’t see us as “young people” that are going to have wild parties and all that. I mean, we probably will have one or two, but we aren’t crazy!

The lady doing the inspection said she would look out for my application today so hopefully that’s a good sign, because I firmly believe in talking to them and getting them to remember you, it puts you above the countless others inspecting.

I will not listen to my friends “advice” of offering them more money. They’ve advertised it at a certain price, they will put the price up eventually anyway, so why offer more? Ive had one place that was beautiful ask me to price bid on the place and I simply told them that was illegal and gave up hopes of living there. I earn money and I’m responsible. I’m clean, and I pay on time. I don’t need to play real estate games.

We are seeing another tonight, and I am in love with its features, but it might just be a good photo and be a dump inside. The kitchen looked kind of modern though.

This is another one in the same building but different apartment.

I spoke to my current agent today and she has told me the second I hand back the keys, I am no longer financially obligated to them. She seemed really apologetic for everything I’ve gone through there and is waiving her rights to keep getting money out of me until she finds someone else. I am unbelievably grateful for that! We hope to move on the weekend of the 13th June, just before Ben goes away for the weekend. That way we can be settled in there and I can spend the weekend decorating!

Totally doing a follow up post when I find the look I am going for! I’m a tad excited at the moment! The end of my 7 month run in this jinxed apartment is in sight.

Meanwhile, we came 2nd in trivia, even with a -3 for winning. We rule.

So after the dead guy next door, I was shaken. The next night, knowing Ben wasn’t going to be home until late, I made dinner early and tucked myself into bed with a night of pampering to help keep me sane. Then at 7pm I hear this loud screaming and slamming and the first thing I do is grab my phone and dial the police. As I answer their questions, the screaming continues, except now a neighbour is out there screaming at them to stop. Its loud and the woman is screaming and I am convinced its her that is getting beaten. After a few minutes it stops.

Once I am off the phone I call my best friend, tell her I’m coming over because shes around the corner, then I call Ben and tell him what happened and hes coming over. He tells me not to go anywhere, but I’m so freaked out and shaking that I have to get out of there. I spent the half hour it takes for him to get to my place at my friend’s house telling her what happened. I get the same response as everyone has been giving me lately – GET OUT OF THERE.

Ben arrives and eventually we go home. I’m shaken still and I pop a sleeping tablet to get even the few hours of sleep I manage that night.

The next morning I drag myself to work, but the cold is still there, so I have no choice but to go home, and I collapse on my bed. I feel like crap and do until Saturday. Friday night though, 4:30am, there is a loud smash, and I’m like here we go again! What is with this place! Ben looks out the window but can’t see anything, but the glass sound continues for the next half hour or so. In the morning we notice a neighbours window is broken.

So we stew about it for a little bit then I say to Ben I can’t stay there, and I don’t want to move and move again but I also don’t want to force him to live with me before he is ready. But I really shouldn’t have stressed because as he put it, he isn’t leaving me alone there anymore, and we practically live together anyway. So that’s it. We are now searching for a place to live together.

I broke my lease yesterday and the agent was more than understanding and offered to help get me somewhere else. We hopefully will see some places in the next few days.

It is a little bit scary, but I also don’t have any hesitation because it just feels like the right decision.

Yesterday as an aside, I had an ultrasound. And god damn was it painful!! The doctor was looking for one of my ovaries and couldn’t find it and owwwww! Turns out though Ive got one inactive ovary from the pill and one realllllly small one. I don’t know what that means, but that’s it.

She couldn’t find any signs of endometriosis and said where I was having pain was not a usual spot for it but then she said that might not mean anything. $200 later and no answers. Just more questions.

So it has been an eventful week and I am looking forward to more cleaning and packing but at least I am getting out!

I’m sick with a flu bug… possibly sinus, whatever! I’m sick and I’m being a sook about it. I went home early from work yesterday, slept a little, Ben got home around 5 and we watched Deal or No Deal together (By the way, its funny to see how much daring he has compared to me, I’m like deal deal!! And hes like nooo one more!) and Simpsons, Neighbours, he made me dinner… all in all, we were heading towards having a nice early night with lots of relaxing and hopefully resulting in me getting better…

Then about 8:30 – right at the time of Ramsay! There was a knock at my door. Ben answered it because I was a bit freaked because there had been a crash next door before that and I wasn’t sure if they were wanting my door or his… anyway. Ben opens it and it’s a policewoman standing there! She asks when I last saw my neighbour, and it has to be at least 2 weeks.

They then go and ask around at the other neighbours and that’s when we figured out that my other next door neighbour called the cops because she hadn’t seen him in ages. So we go back inside, put the tv on mute and start listening. The cops were on the phone to his next of kin (called his landlord I’m guessing…) and asking “do you mind if we kick the door in to check on him?” and then “Well, its more of a courtesy because we are going to do it anyway.” !!

So then they start kicking in the door and we go to my door because we were like what the hell! They kick the door in and they’re like yep… hes in there. He is DEAD in there!

The thing about this neighbour is I never had much to do with him because he was always a little odd, and his place, reeked. Literally… every hot day you would walk past and be overwhelmed by the smell. He just never cleaned the place. I used to have to keep my windows closed on really hot days too.

The mess is even worse than I imagined. The cops couldn’t even get in there to photograph his body originally because of the junk everywhere.

While we were sitting inside Ben called his friend who is a cop and turns out he used to work at the station these cops are from and knows them all, so we tell them he said hi and he messages one of them to tell them to look after me or something.

Anyway, they ask us more questions about the neighbour and if the mess has always been there, and then they ask if I would mind trying to ID the body because the other neighbours who called them were too close to them and they didn’t want to upset them and the family live in another state… They say they can do it over the camera so I don’t have to go in there because its too messy and I’m like uhh OK.

So I’m freaked out… And I call my mum and shes like don’t do it!! And I’m like I have to mum, because the other neighbour is a bit sensitive so I didn’t know how she would react… So they show me the photo and it looks NOTHING like what I remember him to be like so they’re like oh no!!

But then the relatives were able to describe some tattoos he had and it was him in the end, but he had been dead for over a week so he was unrecognisable!

The cops showed Ben the front area of the apartment (not where you could see the body) just to see the trash and he was amazed! He’s like no wonder it stank! Turns out the neighbour had some mental issues and so when he got sick, didn’t call an ambulance.

Its sad and I’m totally freaked out! I didn’t sleep a wink last night… Kept waking up every half hour and freaking out a bit! The thing is, when I first moved in and saw the mess and smelt in, I’m like man they’re going to find him dead in that apartment one day… And now they have! I feel kinda bad!!

It is all a tad weird… I really want to leave but I am not wanting to force Ben to live with me earlier, because we had agreed on November, but I’m not sure how I feel about living next door to where the guy died especially as now I will always have that mental image in my head. Blah.

So the weekend was quite nice… mostly low key but that’s not a bad thing! Friday night we had some Mexican, watched bad TV and fell asleep nice and early! Saturday we woke up hoping to make the 10:30 spin class, didn’t, but still did some time at the gym. Came back home, had a shower and started doing my hair… when I came back into the bedroom Ben was on the bed napping! He napped quite a long time, while I straightened my hair and did that girly stuff, then we went round to his place.

We picked up one of his friends and headed back into the city and looked at a few pubs for his bday (pretty much settled on the mountain view in Richmond) and then had dinner with friends, more drinks, and the boys watched the soccer. Got home at 2:30 and was absolutely exhausted!

Sunday we had to get up early and get the car from the parking space in Richmond, so we went to have breakfast there. The first place we went to was packed as, but we waited in the queue for a bit and then these two gay south African guys cut the line! SO MAD. We weren’t getting any service, so we headed to another place and had a Mexican breakfast (eggs, guac, bacon, hash brown and sour cream) and a milk shake and it was really yummy!

Then we went back to my house, did the food shopping and all that boring stuff (On the menu this week, pizza, sweet potato soup, pasta, chicken curry) but we did go to the fresh fruit market and got some nice grapes and all that – and cheap too! only $11 for a heap of vegies and fruit!

Then we went to chaddy and I got myself a body scrub (so needed!) then onto his friends house to watch the footy. It was soooo nice and warm in there that I struggled to stay awake on their comfy couch!

Wasn’t feeling the greatest, had sniffles all morning, and it was escalating quite badly by the time I had some medication at 4ish. Felt ick most of the night, still do, but I’m hoping its just a cold!

Tonight my plans include making the sweet potato soup, cleaning, doing my hair and going to bed nice and early!

On a good note – ben is staying at my house all week because his parents went away and are doing the bathroom. So I get cuddles every night, which is really just once more than I usually get, but still! 1 extra night is good!

Anyways, writing this at work so I should get back to it!

Im liking this polyvore site! I just accidentally killed a bit of time on it! We had a few photos back from our awards night that I went to and I reaaallly didnt like what I was wearing! OK it may have something more to do with how tired I was and looked, but the plain black dress I wore (similar to the one on the left) with the silver jewellery – although the jewellery was more bling that I normally wear, it didnt do me much justice.

Just playing around on the site and seeing all the great combos I could have done makes me wish I had been more organised getting a dress! I really like the green colour on the middle dress and its not too showy for the event I went to.

I love the shape and colour of the one on the right. its plain, but still would stand out! not 100% on the shoes I picked there, but there wasnt anything in the colour I really wanted. I think you could make it pop even more with some bright purple or pink shoes to really contrast it!

The thing is, I have a bunch of dresses, bright colours and showy, but Im not feeling like that girl I was when I bought them. That girl would NEVER buy black. Most of my dresses are pink, or bright blue, and one pink one in particular is gorgeous but a little booby. Now ive never been one to shy away from showing off the boobs (its a cancerian thing!) but on the night despite knowing how good it looked, and that i could wear it with my marc jacobs diamente sandals and save my feet some pain, I just felt too self conscious. i dont know whats wrong with me! despite loosing a little bit of weight, my stomach is getting more and more bloaty, and my self confidence seems to suffer! I know its a matter of getting back into the gym and blah blah blah.. but really, my stomach is pretty hard so its not FAT on there mostly, its just bloat. so when every dress you buy has to have room to move, it makes you feel fat!

I dont quite know where im going with this… I just wish on the night I had taken a chance and worn the other dresses. I would have stood out and the colour would have perked up my tired eyes a little!

At work we have spent the last year organising a trade show, which happened last week. It was a tiring 3 days definately, and quite painful on the body as we had to walk all over the show grounds, but it turned out really well… one of the most successful ever and it was only our first. The thing is, it is when I go to events like this that I realise just how much I love my job. It has been 3 years now, I walk around the halls and everyone knows me, they know I know my stuff which is so important as a girl in a mans industry. they give me their stories and they are all really excited to see me. THis is where I actually get some validation for the good job that I do. My boss might not always recognise it, but the people I actually write stories on do.

So now I have all this guilt about wanting to leave, and wondering if leaving is the right thing. Because I am happy with my job now… not happy with pay or the way I get treated sometimes, or the quality of staff he has been hiring… but happy nonetheless. So im unsure what to do.

I do know I want to get my medical stuff sorted, which will be another month away, but after that do I leave or do I try and make it work? I just dont know!

Sorry for my absence! It’s been crazy lately and if I get a chance to write about it later today, I will!

Its starting to get real cold in Melbourne so as I was deciding what I would make for dinner last night, tossing up the idea of calamari salad, I saw this recipe for pumpkin soup and couldnt resist!

Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients (serves 6)
2 tbs olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 leek, white part only, finely sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1kg peeled pumpkin, diced
1 large potato, peeled, diced
1L chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup (125ml) thin cream
Method
Heat oil in a large saucepan over low heat, add onion and leek and cook for 2-3 minutes, until softened but not coloured. Add garlic and spices and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add pumpkin, potato and stock and bring to the boil. Turn heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, then blend in batches.
Return soup to pan, stir through cream and reheat gently. Season and add a little more nutmeg if desired.

From taste.com.au

I’ve only just started to gain a liking of pumpkin and so I worried this would be too pumpkin for me, but it was delicious! I had one mishap though – i slipped while chopping the pumpkin and cut myself quite badly (no stitches or anything, just going to need to wear a bandaid for a while!) so the throbbing in my thumb is reminding me of the pumpkin. but i persevered! unlike the time i cut myself while chopping melon and held it against melons for ages!

But if anyones wanting a nice warm winter soup, this did it for me!! Anything with leek though… Im a huge fan!

Plus, Im a moron with soup! For some reason, anytime I had made soup in the past it had stuffed up. Now im thinking of conquering that inability and will make a different soup each monday for lunch that week

Ive also got risotto and a sausage and roast veg pie on the menu this week, so Ill let you know how they go!

So to celebrate making it to six months the boy and I headed out for authentic mexican at los amates in fitzroy last night. yum!  With mexican you HAVE to get a tequilla based ice drink, so I got myself a surprisingly strong Mango Margharita! We then had some yummy nachos and then I had potato and chorizo tacos and ben had chicken enchiladas! yum!

Afterwards we went to see my sisters boyfriend play a gig… but he does industrial noise style… so we couldnt stand listening to the first band long enough for him to come on! We were there for an hour but ouch my ears!! I hope he went well though!

Today I had a job interview with a local council to work in their PR department… I hope it went OK! I felt like it went well, but it is the usual thing of thinking of better answers after you leave. They had a sneaky one- what would your referees say you could improve on! I was like uhh i dont know… nothing? then gave some crappy always constantly improving myself answer. but we shall see.

Truck show is next week so work is going to be busy again. Trying to hold off on the job hunting – I need to get my health sorted out as much as I can before I move somewhere new. Thats ideal. If i do end up getting something out of what I applied for, well then thats fate, if not, well when Im all better Ill be back up and on the hunt!

Hope everyone has a great weekend ! TGIF!

It was just over six months ago that my life changed to the better. We met up after many years of simply chatting on the phone and emailing at a time when I was going through a break up with my ex of 5 1/2 years.

It was only meant to be for a drink… but the second he came to my door I saw this gorgeous, very tall boy and I was smitten. So we headed to Port Melbourne, had a drink at one of the bars and chatted. I was so nervous… this gorgeous boy had known me for so long and knew all about me, yet in person you realise just how little those facts matter. Because face to face having similar tastes in music matters very little.

Once we finished our drinks we walked down to the beach. It was only October, but it must have been hot because people were swimming and I wore a sundress. I remember just how pale my legs looked next to that yellow sand! I dont quite know how long we sat on the sand and chatted about our various travels and jobs and friends and life, but I do remember the itchy sand bugs that kept attacking us! They were drawn to the white of your t-shirt in particular, so much so that your back was almost black!

We drove back to my place and sat out the front in the car… we made small talk. I didnt know what to do next. And then you grabbed my hand. Any anxiety I had about whether or not you liked me back, whether you found me attractive, what you wanted to happen, all melted in that moment. I’ve written about this before so I wont go into much detail… but that day I felt like this was the start of something.

It all moved pretty quickly from there… a few days later you were back at my house and I cooked for you for the first of many times. It was chicken satay. I remember also how you left the buk choy on your otherwise clean plate! That weekend we had our first official date… spanish tapas at Santiago’s. You had your first taste of tapas, I discovered you arent the biggest fan of chocolate. I decided that slight flaw was worth overlooking though!

I don’t know how long it was until we made all these things official… but the day you said to me “I guess you’re my girlfriend” was one of my happiest. So then we had to choose a date to celebrate our anniversary… it was all a little blurred… our first drink, our first date, our… hell… 1st of November. Easy to remember, and somewhere inbetween when this all started and when we made it official.

So, six months in, I can say I’ve never been happier. my boy is the sweetest guy alive! Here is to many many many many more months and years together!