Shivonne Glenn and Unemployment are no longer synonymous!

Hoorah!

I am now a working girl. Um, I mean a girl who works. You get the picture. Thankfully I've been gainfully employed by an adorable deli/cafe called The Pickle Barrel located a convenient three minute walk from my house share in Williamstown. At the present I have not discovered the origins of the slightly uncommon name, but I aim to do so soon. The cutesy cafe is owned by a brother/sister duo and actually employs another American if you can imagine (but she's from Indiana so I keep the cool Texan factor to myself). And the best part (or at least Chris thinks so)? I get to bring home leftover sandwiches/wraps/cakes/loaves/rolls at the end of my shift that would otherwise be thrown out. Hopefully this will help make a dent in our grocery bill. The only downside I have yet to discover is the danger of working in close proximity to pastries and bread treats. I'm not sure if you're aware, but during my 5 month stint working in a bakery in Scotland, I managed to gain a whopping 15 pounds. Yikes. Luckily most of the treats aren't chocolate based which is my biggest downfall. Willpower, prepare to be tempted.

Chris has also found a bit of employment for himself-he's working weekends at a restaurant/pub called the Atomic Bar. Hopefully as the weather improves (don't forget we're at the end of winter over here) they will need him for more hours. In the meantime he's looking for a second job to fill in the week and finance his rent.

Being as neither of us is in the money so to speak at the moment, I'd like to share with you our activities list of as late:

Activities for the frugal minded:
1. Learn to wear layers. Lots of them. With a shortage of funds we decided to cut a few corners to mitigate our bills. On the top of the list is heating. No one tells you Australia can be cold. It seems all like laughing on the beach frolicking around in bathing suits. Let me tell you it's not. It is FREAKING FREEZING here (at least without the support of a central heating system). I walk around the house in no less than leggings, sweat pants, two pairs of socks, tshirt, long sleeve shirt, and one of Chris' ginormous hoodies. Top it all off with a duvet and the teeth will stop chattering.
2. Take Walks We have instated a new daily activity-twilight walks. It's free. It's exercise. It gets us out of the house and away from the TV/laptops. What more could you ask for?
3. Play Boardgames Well, in this instance, monopoly since it's the only one in the house. We've played three games in the past three days. Chris is a bit more enthusiastic than me (I'm more of a once in a blue moon monopoly participant). I'd like to note that I've won two out of those three games, not that it's winning that is important. Ahem. Note to self: check the charity shop for second hand games to cut down on excessive monopoly play.
4. Visit the Library Thankfully Williamstown has it's own local library. It's not as fancy as the State Library in Melbourne with it's towering dome, free wifi, and open exhibits but at least it has books, magazines, and internet terminals. I can spend a lovely rainy afternoon holed up here.
5. Learn to cook with mince Turns out ground beef is a cheap eat. Being a chicken eater myself, I've never really explored mince recipes. There's more than you'd think. In the past week we've had hamburgers, spaghetti bolognese, mince curry, and Italian mince and veggies. I'm becoming quite the mince connoisseur.

Well that's about all I have for now. As you might have noticed from the shockingly bare picture department on my blogs, I still haven't accessed wifi. I hope to fix this problem soon so I can share some visuals. Miss you all dearly!

A moment in the world according to Shivonne...

[Whilst watching the news, footage of the Australian candidate for Miss Universe flashes across the screen]

Shivonne: "Wow. She really is pretty."
Chris: "Not as pretty as you."

[Shivonne laughs off the compliment and just rolls her eyes]

Chris: "Well not technically, but you'll always be prettier to me."
Shivonne: "You know I got the general gist of the comment without you explicitly spelling it out for me, but thank you for that. In the future you can just leave that qualifier unsaid."

Blogthetic

blog-thet-ic [blog-thet-ik]
-adjective
1. being completely lame in the way of blogs
2. failing to blog for an extended period of time (i.e. an entire month)
*cross reference* Shivonne Glenn

Yes my friends, blogthetic I have been. In my defense however, the past month has been cram packed with two globe spanning flights, one amazing wedding week, and a few precious days at home with my family. I really want to share the brilliant experiences I've had with y'all (well, most of you were present and contributors to the experiences but I'm gonna tell you about them anyway) but that will have to wait for another post as I only have 6 minutes of internet time remaining-I'm going old school public library computer style. For now I'll just give a quick update regarding my return to Australia.....

I am back in the land of Oz (that's slang for Australia don't you know), and while there are no wizards, munchkins, or ruby slippers in sight, there is a big fat prospect of job hunting hanging over my head. Really, are there any more feared and loathsome pairing of words than the job-hunt? I think not. Luckily I got my rear in gear and distributed resume upon resume to all unsuspecting businesses in the area yesterday, and I have had two favorable responses. Now I just have to wow at least one of these establishments at a trial run and I might just be employed! Hoorah! So pray for me in the coming days as I put myself on the job market line.

Oh one last thing. I am currently living in a house share in a cute beachy suburb of Melbourne called Williamstown and I actually have a contact address (gasp!) so here it is folks:
66 Electra Street
Williamstown, VIC 3016
Australia

Much love people! Promise more fulfilling blogs coming your way soon!