Uncertainty

I'm very much a 'what's the plan stan?' kind of gal. Shocking I know what with my procrastinating ways and all, but for some reason as long as I have some foggy idea of what my future holds it doesn't bother me to put it off until the very last possible moment. That's logical no? Well here's an illogical aspect to my plans-I don't mind discarding them at the last minute and I'm notorious for changing my mind (much to my boyfriend's chagrin). I don't like things set in stone because I never know what twists life will throw my way-I gotsta have the wiggle room. You might say I have commitment issues.

I am the queen of to-do lists; often just the action of putting down my plans on paper has such a therapeutic effect that I don't even refer to the tidy color coded lists again. I live by my little calendar planner and tote a green flip pad with me wherever I go to jot down ideas and notes. My Lonely Planet guide is earmarked, highlighted, underlined, and starting to look rather rough around the edges. When traveling I am definitely not an easy going we'll see where to stay when we get there and hope public transport is around person. I obsessively research hostels, plane flights, buses, and trains to ensure firstly that I am booked and taken care of and secondly to find the best prices and times. It's all about the informed decision people. I've become Chris' personal travel and booking agent. He just shoots me an amused look of wonder as I flip through my pages of travel notes and hands me his credit card. Come to think of it, I should start charging booking fees. Hmmm...

Anyway, I've conveyed all the above hooplah for one very important reason: right now I have absolutely no idea where I'll be/what I'll be doing upon my return trip to Australia following my 2 week jaunt home. This is KILLING me! My flight is booked through to Alice Springs (I purchased the ticket months ago when Chris was convinced the rather non-remarkable central Aussie city was the place to be. He has since changed his mind) which is one place I can be assured I don't want to be. Thankfully I can ditch the flight in Sydney and make my way to an as now unknown destination. Ideally we would stay in the city of Oz that has stole my heart-Miss Melbourne herself. Unfortunately I don't think living here is conducive to saving: way to much temptation to spend on unique boutique purchases and frequenting funky bars. The priority is to finance a massive road trip up the middle of Australia and down the west coast by renting a camper van-a little expenditure of oh roundabout $7,000. Quite the spending Mount Everest for me really. I think the answer might be to turn to a live-in-position of the rural persuasion-cheap accommodation, maximum hours, and with nothing to do, there's nowhere to spend your money. I'm not excited about an Alpha experience part deux, but maybe I can find a fabulous resort who needs someone to sit and the reception desk and look pretty? A girl can dream....

Oh no you didn't...

Making my way through the labyrinth of fabulous back streets and lane ways comprising much of the awesomeness Melbourne has to offer, I spot a shop that seems to be drawing me to it with a force a Jedi would be jealous of. Not one to shrug off such a strong inclination, I march quick like a bunny (something my mom used to say to us kids when we were little-it makes me smile) under the prominent sign displaying the store name-Shag. As I enter the colorful room, Cabaret is being serenaded to me by none other than Liza Manelli and I instantly feel at home. No, it's not one of THOSE places silly, it's a vintage boutique!

Today I went-eek!-shopping. Bad, bad Shivonne, bad (that's the judgement I'm conveniently pre-projecting on all my readers for efficiency's sake) Now I know what your thinking, 'um...with what money may I ask?' Yes, it's true I'm on the wrong side of a stable financial situation here with my little work 2 days a week butt, but I couldn't help myself people! I've been in the fashion capital of Australia for 6 weeks now and the only lousy amateur wanna be shopping I've done is to pick up a pair of black work trousers from Target. Lame. It's a disgrace to any self respecting fashionista to be truthful. So today I redeemed myself by exploring all the local, funky, occasionally vintage boutiques in my direct vicinity. There were a lot. Unfortunately I had an excuse to buy (don't we always?) as I really have no appropriate wedding week gear for one little miss Ivy's upcoming nuptials. However even in my blissfully euphoric state I couldn't justify purchasing most of the items I desired (primarily in the flirty fun frock category) due to financial constraints. I contained my shopping spree to two delicious items which I personally think is very admirable. Check out my finds:

This is my very sweet, very demure 'I can snazzy up a pair of skinny jeans' top. It would have been wrong not to buy it-it was the last one, in my size, and ON SALE. Who am I to deny fate? The damage? 45 Aussie dollars (roughly $30 American). Not too bad eh?

I really wanted to post an image of my second tasty fashion treat, but after about a bazillion tries it STILL won't upload. Just that one photo. I can upload every other picture off my computer to my heart's content but that ONE photo is a no go. How stupid is that? Plus I really wanted to show you- it's an adorable stainless steel owl pendant called Hootie. It's a Corky Saint Clair creation-very Melbourne, very cool. Exclusively featuring local artists and jewelery designers, even getting there is an adventure- you walk down the Degraves street stairs into the hidden depths of the Flinders Street Station to find the interesting underground shop named after a character in the film 'Waiting for Guffman'. Needless to say, I adore Hootie, but I guess you'll have to meet him in person instead of via blog. C'est la vie.

...Oh yes I did.

I think that's a bit of an overreaction...

[after Shivonne makes a slightly disparaging remark, Chris rips his hand out of hers]

Chris: "I'm sorry, I'm allergic to that amount of sarcasm. "

[searching for a way to punish her, he gleefully spots an ad as they continue to walk down the street and makes the following comment knowing full well Shivonne has been lusting after an iphone for ages now]

Chris: "I think I'll buy an iphone with the money I make from my sales trip-I mean from what I hear they're really great. I wonder if they have an ap called 'I have an iphone and you don't' so I could find all non iphone holders in the vicinity and send them belittling texts."

Really?

And now for the OTHER side of the story....

So after playing a supporting, often comedic, role in my adventures related via blog thus far, my charming boyfriend is ready to grab the spotlight. Read on for the once in a lifetime chance (honestly-I'm pretty sure I won't be able to convince him to post again) to hear Chris' side of the story. Enjoy the guest blog folks!

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Typing with a gun pressed against your head can be very distracting, but apparently this guest blog is very important to Shivonne. Now I'm not to sure what to write because you've heard all the stories from Shivonne, but that is where my idea came from. Now it's come to my attention that I have been commonly used as comic relief in her writing. For example, my mutton chops looked awesome. For goodness sakes even Wolverine has them (*typers note: Chris originally said 'for Christ's sake' but decided to change his wording as not to 'offend the good, God-fearing, respectable Texas folk). Now some of you might think due to Shivonne's biased and jaded blogs that I am a KFC guzzling, movie addicted, impulse buying, facial hair sporting eccentric. This is simply not true. I much prefer Hungry Jacks (that's what they call Burger King over here).

Now what has been seriously misrepresented is Shivonne's own enjoyment in these apparently disparaging activities. Recently she has been frequenting fast food joints more often than myself. Admittedly this is only for light snack relief. Her own facial hair has become quite impressive-only kidding. It's just a mustache. Hahahaha. See? I can write comically as well. As far as movies are concerned, I admit that I have slight issues. However, I didn't have to exactly drag her by the hair for our 6 hour movie fest in Rockhampton. Unfortutely that experience was the site of a very serious revelation: we are now old. How annoying are those young upstart whippersnappers who talk through the movie? And who the hell doesn't know what Star Trek is? One idiot girl asked if Captain Tiberius Kirk was Luke Skywalker. Luckily I had Shivonne to hold me back before doing serious damage with a straw and my supply of M&Ms.

After all this excitement and binging, we finally arrived in Melbourne. This was after four hour of me pointing out the bag size of other airport travels and complaining that I had been unfairly victimized by the check in lady at the Jetstar travel desk who had just suffered a major sense of humour failure. The salt was pushed deep into the wound by the woman's ability to overlook the huge massiveness of Shivonne's blairingly bright gold hold all she pretends is a carry-on piece of luggage. I was outraged the bag wasn't screened to make sure this Texan wasn't smuggling a tiny immigrant in that thing. Luckily I wasn't picked up as a terrorist and we arrived in Melbourne with a relatively uneventful plane ride.

The next section is a description of some of the nicest things ever done for me by a human being/ish. Now we had not been in the city for more than a day when my birthday arrived. I was turning 23 and 12 months. Shivonne, my beautiful girlfriend, had planned a whole day of activities for us with the precision of a WWII general. This is especially impressive because she managed to do this firstly without me knowing, and secondly without ever being to Melbourne before. First stop was the Melbourne Gaol; this was an inspired choice from Shivonne who knows I have a cultural interest in museums, art, and stuff but a limited time span in which I enjoy it. She cunningly combined culture, history, and a vicious judicial system. Perfect. Second stop was back across town to City Hatters. Now Shivonne's was a bit put out by this part because of my psychic ability to guess what we were going to do. Apparently, she had been planning to buy me a hat ever since I landed in Texas way back in January. She'd done a masterful of job of suppressing my spontaneous desire to buy hats thus far. All this with the aim of taking me to City Hatters to get the hat of hats: Akubra. Oh yeah. This is the Australian outback hat to have. It's made of real rabbit fur so you know it's good. Now after convincing me not to wear the hat in the city, we perambulated back to the top of the city for the most kick ass part of the day-Night of the Museum II on the seven story high screen at the IMAX IMAX IMAX IMAX. The pleasure of this trip was heightened but being able to squash Shivonne's sense of superiority of being the only one knowing where we were going for once that day. After reluctantly handing over the map for me to help with directions to the Melbourne Museum, she threw an offhand comment 'you'll never be able to figure out what we're going to do' with a sneer included. At this moment I had an epiphany- I remembered reading the Imax was in the Melbourne Museum. After mentioning this the disspointment on her face was so tasty I couldn't have eaten any more. To close off the night, we went for a very romantic, very tasty (though not as tasty as aforementioned dissapointment) meal with my amazing girlfriend (that's Shivonne in case you were wondering).

Now you've all read about Shivonne an my jobsearch hunts. These finally resulted in firstly complete disbelief that neither of us are McDonald's material. The second result was my job as a sales promoter at World Series Paintball which has actually turned out to be a lot more fun than I thought it would be. For example, my first week's paycheck financed a helicopter purchase. Not bad for a salesman. Unfortunately it was of the remote controlled persuasion. Yes Mom, I know it's a waste of money as Shivonne's already informed me, but if I didn't do silly and stupid things, you'd having nothing to complain about. So in fact, you could argue I bought it for you. You are welcome. Last Friday was the end of my first two weeks and I decided to go for the notorious after work drinks with the lads and lasses. Shivonne was kind enough to grace the event thank God. I'll take the opportunity here to mention I utilize my girlfriend as my own personal banker for cash deposits. Luckily I handed over the bulk of my earnings before I had the opportunity to spend my whole week's wages on alcohol. As a result I ended up only incredibly drunk as opposed to very incredibly drunk. Again, yes Mom I know-a waste of money. But hey-what's a girl to do?

Today I am off to Perth for a two week business trip. I feel so grown up. The downside of this amazing opportunity is I will not get to see my Shivonne (yes my) for nearly five weeks as she's heading back to Texas before the trip ends. I almost wish I wasn't going, but I know she'll be taken care of and if she isn't, I know where you live. Texas isn't it?

Now signing off....I have been Chris and you've been fantastic.

My life has become boring...

Well, not BORING exactly I guess. Just predictable. I know what you're thinking, 'Quit complaining-you're living in a cool new country silly!' This is true, but I think the novelty is wearing off. Now that I've been in Melbourne for about a month, I've done most of my major sightseeing, I've learnt my way around, and I've started to settle in. I guess the opportunity to travel to lots of exciting new places can spoil a girl sometimes...

Thankfully though, Melbourne is one awesome city, and it's standing the test of time. I've gotten past the touristy stage and the city still has my heart. Every time I step out that hostel door and my anxious feet hit the worn pavement I get excited all over again. I think I just might be a big city kinda a gal. I'm especially crazy for this big city with it's majestic architecture, funky vibe, and amazing shopping (not that I have the money to spend-so mostly window shopping for me). I've even settled into my own little routine; everyday I feel a little less touristy and just a bit closer to an actual resident.

So what does my routine consist of? I'll tell you upfront it's not very exciting, but it is comfortable. Since I only work two days a week (Fridays and Sundays) I have a lot of free time so I have the luxury of filling it as I please. I generally resist the urge to sleep in too late-the free breakfast is a pretty good deterrent for this since it ends at 9. Some days I'm super good and wake up to eat brekky with Chris before he leaves for work at 7. I'm not gonna lie, that doesn't happen all that often, but it's very admirable when it does. After my peanut butter and banana toast and cup of tea (that's the old English boyfriend rubbing off on me) I throw on my running gear and go for a jog in one of the lovely gardens gracing this city. I've been going for about three weeks, and I'm slowly improving. I made the mistake of going during the lunch run rush one day and was totally embarrassed by my running inadequacy. There were hardcore runners training for marathons and stuff plus all the business folks on their lunch break-every single one passed my slow butt on the path. I thought I felt bad enough, but that was before a mom jogging behind her baby stroller breezed past. Gah. I never was a runner though...

After completing my apparently very mild run, I shower and get ready for the day, check my emails, try to knock off a few more chapters from War and Peace which I still haven't managed to complete (I'm 3/4 of the way done though so things are looking up in my literary world), make a run to the market if need be, and then cook up some lunch. I always make my big meals at lunch since the community kitchen gets super busy in the evenings. I like cooking in the big, calm, empty kitchen-very therapeutic. After lunch it's off to the State Library of Victoria which I have fallen in love with. The massive Victorian building just screams intellect so I can get away posing like one (an intellect that is).

There is very reliable free wifi (unlike the crappy wifi supplied at my hostel) and books upon books at my fingertips begging to be read. I am a proud holder of a Victoria Library Card and have even learned to make book requests online. Nice. My major library activity however is researching subjects I find interesting in the hopes of directing my hopefully future career in the right direction. I picked up a chic notebook so I would be inspired to super diligent note-taking. So far it's working so my self-psycho manipulation is very successful, though probably not a future career choice. I head home when the grumpy library staff kicks me out at 9pm (I guess it IS closing time so they are entitled) to make a light dinner, and if I think I deserve to be treated (which I usually do) I pick up a 50 cent McDonald's soft serve cone on the way home-who knew happiness was one ice cream cone away?

Just Another Day in 'Marvellous Melbourne'

In 1880 Melburnians began referring to their beloved city as 'Marvellous Melbourne.' The city was founded in 1835, so it only took them 45 years to come up with the nickname-I have my doubts on how clever these early inhabitants were. Honestly, taking nearly half a century to apply an alliterated adjective to their name? Well, I guess you can argue that in 1880 the city was actually marvelous-it was a city funded by the 1851 gold rush (incidentally just weeks after Victoria separated to form its own state separate from New South Wales; you call that good timing), it had become a place of lavish hotels, victorian buildings, stately theatres, and luscious gardens. At that time it was actually the second largest city in the British empire behind London-pretty impressive stuff. Unfortunately all that high living came to a halt when they suffered a huge depression in the '90s (the old school 1890s, not the Saved by the Bell '90s). Don't worry, they have more than recovered and I reckon the city is at its most marvelous today.

This week Melbourne, once again, showed me how marvelous it is. Chris started his job as a sales rep for World Series Paintball (reference my last blog) so I had a lot of solitary time on my hands being gainfully unemployed. To counteract any depression resulting from my apparent unemployability, I decided to release some good feely endorphins the old fashioned way-running. Now lets just say I am, ahem, slightly out of shape. Without a gym membership at my fingertips, I have been less than enthusiastic to participate in physical exercise as it is rather inconvenient. Unfortunately, I have been freaking out (again) lately about getting old, and after subscribing to a 40 and over email newsletter about healthy living I am quite worried about my heart health and have been inspired to engage in cardio vascular activity at least three days a week. (Note to self-reading literature targeted for a demographic two times may age MIGHT contribute to me feeling older) Luckily, my marvelous Melbourne is a city of gardens, and there is a particularly lovely running track mere minutes from my hostel. Now I have horribly sore thighs, calves, hips, sides, and toes, but my endorphins are raging. So begins my love/hate relationship with the daily run.

After my vigorous morning exercise, I return to the hostel breathing in an asthma attack fashion, beat red in the face, and soaking in cold sweat. After a stretch and a quick shower, I appear almost normal again except the redness in my face generally persists a good couple of hours. Now comes the fun part-sightseeing! After highlighting every free activity in my Lonely Planet Guide, I was ready to further my Melburnian enlightenment. It took me two days to take in all the National Gallery of Victoria had to offer. I particularly enjoyed the Persuasion: Fashion in the Age of Jane Austen. And I discovered I enjoy paintings much more than sculpture or designware. It takes me ages to go through the galleries because I have to stop and read every description of all the paintings. The first day I went I took one of our bunkmates, and I'm not sure Irish guy John was too impressed with my neanderthall pace of the place. Needless to say, I took a solitary trip the second time. There's actually a really great Dali temporary exhibit called Liquid Desire on at the moment. I say 'really great' from what I've heard, not first hand experience, as the entrance to that costs $23. I appreciate art, but I'm afraid my wallet can't afford to do the same at the moment.

I also went to the City Museum housed in the old Treasury Building. It wasn't free, but at $8 even my measly budget could take the hit. The Old Treasury is a beautiful building that was designed by a 19 year old kid from Liverpool which I thought was very impressive. At 19 my biggest achivement was making it to class on time. It used to be where a lot of government malarkey took place, and it still holds official business there today, but it is most famous for housing all that wonderful, sought after gold of the late 1800s in its expansive vaults. It's a nice little museum depicting Melbourne's history with the bonus of a victorian era theatre exhibit. This is also where the marriage registrar office is, so there's always lots of brides in front of the building fighting over prime picture real estate.

Finally this week, I also made it to the Queen Victoria Market-a couple of times actually. Whilst browsing through the stalls I also managed to pick up a bit of casual employment. Hoorah! I'll be selling these tribal looking hair comb things, and I start tomorrow. It's only a few hours a week, but at least I'll have a little cash flow. After congragulating myself on my employment venture, I celebrated by buying a $5 dress. I'm not sure how much wear I'll get from it, but I really like the bottom bit. Plus, there were only two left, and one of them was damaged, so the guy threw that one in for free. I'm thinking of cutting off the bottom fabric from one and fashioning it into a scarf. We'll see how crafty I can be.

Oh one last thing! On our way home from the market today, Chris and I came across a band called Bonjah playing on the street. They are actually Kiwi (from New Zealand), but they've been in Melbourne for the past three years. Their sound is really funky/folky/soulful sounding-to my untrained ear anyway. They were selling their debut album Until Dawn, so Chris bought a copy and had the whole band sign it in case they get famous. You can check them out at www.myspace.com/bonjahband. We sat on the steps of the Old General Post Office building, pulled out some treats we bought at the market, and enjoyed a little live music. Now how Marvellous is that?