Winter Storm

"I guess one out of three winter storm warnings in North Carolina need to be taken seriously." -Noah

Over the last few weeks we've had a couple "winter storm" warnings calling for snow and ice and winter disaster--the first two, we hardly even saw any snow from, but the last one hit us hard. If you have followed the weather in the East at all the last week, you will know about the main part of the storm that we caught a small corner of. It started to snow Friday morning (what fun! I actually enjoyed it!) and by the afternoon it was snowing even harder (2 inches per hour so I hear). At our house we probably received about 12" of snow by 8 pm that night. Everything shut down, it was great. We took this wonderful walk right before it got dark on Friday; it was so peaceful and quite and white. It looked like lights were on outside long after the sun "set" because of the glow from the snow covered earth. It was probably one of my favorite snow days in recent memory (in part because we were also warm and cozy, the army of heaters couldn't have arrived any sooner than they did).

Both Noah and I were looking forward to a cozy, relaxing snow weekend when we woke up Saturday morning. We had no where to be and nothing that had to get done and were hoping to revel in the feeling of being inside and warm while it was snowy outside. The snow was very wet and heavy so it was collecting on tree branches and power lines; three trees in the ravine behind our house came down during the night not to mention a countless amount of smaller branches all around us. However, the house was still warm and cozy and safe...until the power went out at 10:30 in the morning...

Noah borrowed a shovel from our next door neighbor to clear off the driveway and learned that 80% of our county was out of power. Our neighbor (Isaac) and his wife grew up here and said the last time a storm like this had been through was 1993. Isaac thought our street would get power back sooner than others because we are actually located in Mars Hill, but said even so, it could be a couple of days before it came back on.

Our house was loosing heat fast, so while Noah shoveled the driveway I piled all of our newly purchased house plants (thanks Dad and Val!) into the middle of the room and covered them with a couple of sheets in hopes they would not freeze if the power really did stay off longer than 12 hours. Noah called Steven (who owns the yoga studio in Asheville) to make sure he had power there. Steven said we were welcome to stay the night there if we had to. We packed up a some blankets and pillows along with books and computers and first went into nearby Weaverville where our favorite coffee shop-Wellbred Bakery-was miraculously open. We stayed there all afternoon in hopes the power would come back on at home. At 4 pm, we called Isaac to get an update and the power was still off. We drove into Asheville for the evening.

We ended up taking our self out to dinner at an Indian restaurant in town that we had been planning on going to for Christmas, set up camp in the corner of the yoga studio, watched a DVD of The Office and went to bed hoping that our house would have power in the morning. That dream was not to be. We drove back home to a cold house, called our friend Darlene who lives an hour north in Jonseborough TN, packed my school stuff and drove up to stay with her. It was wonderful to get to visit with her despite the conditions. The roads were clear and wet and the drive was actually quite beautiful.

I received a call in the evening from school letting me know we would be having class on Monday, but that it would start at 10 instead of 8. Just before going to bed, we heard from Isaac-the power was back on! (Yay! I thought, my house plants might just survive!-they did). Only about 2/3 of my class made it to school Monday, and we started late every day this week due to early morning black ice. Other than that though, the drama of the storm really ended for us after the power came back on at home, since we could be warm and cook and check our e-mail. It warmed up Tuesday and today, but all the snow is not yet gone. Some people in the area were out of power until yesterday or even today, which is crazy. It makes one realize how important alternate sources of heating are and just how dependent on electricity our society is.

All in all, the snow has made it feel like Christmas (although, just today we were commenting to each other that all the snow melting made us think it was spring...). But, we can now say we lived through and survived WINTER STORM 2009 when our grandchildren ask about it years down the road. We were tough-we packed up and left when the house dropped below 60 degrees...I will say the ratio of cold/snow/storm to warmer/melting/sunny has been about perfect for my winter weather storm threshold. Go North Carolina!

Heating Soap Box

Wow! So Christmas is this Friday. Crazy. Sometime life feels like it is on slow motion fast-forward or something like that. This is my fourth week of school, making my first of 6 months gone. We will be on Holiday break for a week before returning, which is a bit of a relief. I will definitely be spending a good part of the break studying! I am loving every minute of it though--even the not so fun minutes (basic muscle chemistry anyone?) and cannot yet believe that I will get to make a living doing this after I am done. It makes me feel very lucky.

So, moving on to my soap box/rant. We have had a major run-around with our property management company and the heating system(s) at our house over the last month. It is nearly resolved but far from over at this point in time. Our house has been cold since the day we moved in and, after learning the costs and logistics involved with getting kerosene and/or propane for the house (everything was empty when we arrived), we had decided to see how long we could make it with a few electric heaters. About 2 weeks ago it started to get cold enough that we decided to break down and buy a new propane canister for the upstairs propane heater ($110-the canister here is one of those 100 pound ones that is considered "portable" but I would beg to differ). We brought it home, finally figured out how to hook it up only to discover that the heating unit inside didn't work. We went back and forth with property management for about a week before getting them to confirm this malfunction ("we've rented this house for 6 years and have never had an issue with the heating system..."). They also informed us they would not be replacing it because they didn't think it would "make much of a difference" in the house temp...

With our options running out and the weather getting colder, we turned to plan three: the kerosene heater in the (unfinished/unused) basement. We had fought against this heating system because there is no duct system, the space is unused, and the part of the house that needs the heat is two flights of stairs up. It struck us as a terribly inefficient way to heat the house. This combined with the minimum $300 delivery fee was not our favorite, however, we had been left with no other options. We had the tank filled up last Monday only to come home, try to turn on the heater and discover that...it DIDN'T WORK! Noah basically went to the property management office and refused to leave until they scheduled someone to service the unit for later in the week. During this sit-in, one of the maintenance men basically admitted that they knew the person who lived in the house for four year prior (a student) never called when there was a problem and just stayed at a friends, meaning they basically knew the house was not up to snuff and could have cared less about it before renting it again. Ugh.

Thursday morning I was home when the kerosene repairman came to service the unit. After initially observing the set-up, he came in and said to me, "well the problem is easy, there is no kerosene in the tank." What?!! I'm screaming in my head They took our check, I have a receipt from the oil company for refilling it!!! I called the oil company and confirmed they made the delivery. The repairman suspected the tank or line had a leak in it, but since the ground was still frozen, could not be sure because we couldn't smell the kerosene. Overall, he said the set-up of the whole system was terrible and didn't even know how it had passed code. On top of this, he discovered that the unit in the basement was also broken and that it was so old the parts for it were no longer even made...I thanked the repairmen and asked him to tell property management everything he had told me and then started looking up online what my rights as a tenant were in North Carolina, ready for drastic action if necessary.

Fortunately, property management called after speaking to the repairman ("You've just had the worst luck with that house...are you sure the tank was filled up?"). She said they had contacted the owner and that we would be reimbursed for the kerosene. To make a long story a little shorter, they agreed to bring us up a few extra space heaters that day to help get us through until a new heat pump system could be quoted and installed, skirting around the possibility of compensating us some for our extra electric costs. But, whatever.(Thing is, when the heat pump guy came to quote the job, he said the house set up was not conducive to an easy/cheap system...we still have not heard back from property management what will happen next, for now at least we are warm).

With the extra heaters, we were happy to wake up to a truly warm and cozy house Friday morning for the first time since moving in, which was perfect because it started to snow, and snow, and snow...but that's the next post. Thanks for letting me rant about the ineptitude of our property management company and our "adventure" with heating systems, it's been a big deal the last few weeks.

Back to School

In a nut shell, after week one, school is great. The course is very condensed and will be intense, but will be manageable. I am in school from 8-5 both Mondays and Tuesdays and from 8-12 on Wednesday. In the morning hours, we are learning Anatomy and Physiology (starting with the musculoskeletal system). In the afternoon on Mon & Tuesday we are learning Swedish massage, with about one hour of lecture and the rest actually time "on the table." I must say, I already feel much smarter and more knowledgeable than I did last Sunday. Our first round of exams will be January (musculoskeletal) and February(Swedish & Anatomy and Physiology). We will start actually doing massages in the clinic the end of February. Six months will sure go quickly!! I do think I will be making new friends here by finding volunteers to practice massage one...

There are 20 students in my class from almost every background imaginable. Ages range from 18 to late 40s. Several people are commuting quite a distance every day (as much as 1-2 hours) and some are here just for the 6 months the course takes. Get this though, there is one other girl in the class who has lived in Driggs for the last 6-7 years! She was the first person I met Monday morning and we both couldn't believe it. We had never met before (although, determined we had likely seen one another in passing at a few places). She and her boyfriend moved out in August so she could take the course. She even had her Big Hole Music sweatshirt on...small world times two.

This week the studio Noah is at (Pilates Fusion by Stephen) had a "soft" opening for yoga classes. I think as far as weeks go it was a little up and down for him since the classes had little to no attendance (which was almost expected). But, at the same time, he met a lot of current clients, did a few private mini-classes for people coming by, and started getting the feel for the schedule etc. The plan now is to do a big grand opening the first of the year, with a modified schedule (from the one he has now), and lots of promotion. The owner of the studio is an extremely good guy and has put everything into his business and, although it is a start-up operation, we have a good feeling about the situation. (Check out how good he already looks as part of the Pilates Fusion team at http://pilatesfusionbystephen.com/2452/2494.html)

We had a Winter Storm Warning here the last couple of days-a chance of 3-5 inches of snow...it didn't pan out, although it sprinkled snow a little bit, which was kind of fun. It is getting colder though, but hey, it is winter after all. In fact, it will be sort of fun when it does actually snow a little here. For driving purposes though, I hope it chooses to do so on the weekends...

Staycation

I've been hearing that the "staycation" is the new hip way to take a vacation, but have discounted the idea of staying at home on vacation as bogus. However, if you have just moved across the country, are in a new house, have only yourself, a cat & a loving spouse to deal with, and hours of sleep to catch up on, staycations rock.

The last two weeks in our new home has been one of the most relaxing vacations ever. I have slept more hours, watched more movies, taken more long walks, shared more bottles of wine (and bars of dark chocolate), drank more leisurely cups of coffee, and generally felt less stressed out over the last 10 days than during any other 10 day period in recent memory. This staycation has been relaxing to the point that I've hardly noticed my apprehension about money, starting school, and making a life here-not to mention the annoyance of hours spent on the phone with Verizon (tech support, billing, etc), organizing, cleaning, and driving/walking around new areas and/or stores feeling slightly lost(eg: I thought all Walmarts were organized the same. Not true! The Walmarts here match one another, but are totally different than any I've seen out West...). All in all, my first staycation has made settling in really quite enjoyable.

Despite the wonders of relaxing and starting to feel like this new house is home, I'm getting ready to move on. Last Saturday Noah and I both attended a six hour intro to massage workshop at the Center for Massage and Natural Health (my new school). It was a wonderfully reaffirming experience for me; the day went quickly, I enjoyed myself, absorbed the information and-according to Noah-gave a natural and yummy massage.Whew!

After the course, we drove up to historic Jonesborough TN to visit our friend Darlene who was my roommate at Yogaville (small world!). It was wonderful to see her again and fun to "get out" at least once during our staycation. We had dinner at this lovely little Cuban restaurant and walked around the quaint downtown area of Jonesborough, making a mental note to experience the annual storytelling festival next fall. Despite the trip being short and nearby, we were happy to return to our little house in Mars Hill Sunday afternoon and take a nap.

Thanksgiving felt just like the day before did for us, except the rest of the working world seemed to be relaxing with us. We had Minestrone soup, bread and pumpkin pie-about the best Thanksgiving meal I've ever had. Plus, we still managed to eat T-day leftovers for the next two days (the pot of soup was huge).

I continue to be thrilled with the weather, patterns here and, when we were supposed to get an inch of snow on Friday, I was almost excited for it. (It didn't snow though). I was a little unprepared for the barrage of Christmas music, lights and trees for sell that hit the day after Thanksgiving, but really shouldn't have been surprised.

Alas, as all good things come to an end at sometime, our staycation will be ending tomorrow morning as I head off to my first full day of classes. The studio Noah is teaching yoga at is kicking of classes tomorrow, with his first class starting Tuesday. We are both excited, nervous, happy, and ready to get moving on with life here in North Carolina.

It is crazy for me to think that only one year ago I was in New Zealand, heading to meet Kristin and her wonderful family in Australia. What a year! It is impossible to know where life is going to take us sometimes. I hope can manage to keep enjoying the ride!

The North Carolina Arrival

Noah, myself and our cat buddy set off last Sunday morning after a final coffee at Pendl's and a farewell to my family. We shipped most of our belonging out the Tuesday before with a company called ABF U-Pack, which meant the car was nearly empty. Needless to say, the drive across the states was both interesting and boring at the same time. We stayed in Cheyenne, WY our first evening and ended up having an Australian who had fallen in love and married an American (and who had just received his green card a few weeks ago) wait on us at....the Outback Stakehouse (the only dinning option near our hotel). After he came by our table the first time Noah asked, “Do you think the accent is real or is he faking it?” How coincidental! We spent most of our second day in Nebraska which was empty and flat and flat and flat. We stayed our second night in St. Joseph, Missouri, woke up super early the next morning and made it all the way through Missouri, part of Illinois & Kentucky down past Nashville to a place called Cookesville, TN. We were in Mars Hill by the next day at noon! Whew!

We were extremely lucky with the weather and only hit rain the last 20 minutes of day two and a tiny bit of day four. Buddy was an incredible traveler and pretty much slept on my lap the entire way. Overall he has been adjusting surprisingly well for both a cat and himself (he is a super fraidy-cat sometimes). In fact, he's already ventured outside for a couple of hours at the new house. I kept telling him the mice were bigger in North Carolina...

We absolutely LOVE the little house we rented in Mars Hill—we were both afraid that something would be terribly wrong with it, but, other than a few issues with the heating system (that we are getting worked out) and some dust, cobwebs, a pretty poor paint job, dead bugs and uncleaned corners, we really couldn't be happier. There are so many trees around us that we can barely see the houses nearby—and most of the leaves are gone now! In the summer I imagine we will feel a little like we are living in our own private forest.

However, the best news ever is that Noah got a job teaching yoga today! He will be working for a studio called Pilates Fusion that is expanding to include yoga classes. He had the interview today although he had talked to the owner on the phone from Driggs. The scheduled date for opening the new yoga part of the studio is November 30. The details of the schedule etc are yet to be worked out, but we both have a good feeling about this opportunity.

For now, we are dealing with the mundane little joys and trials of unpacking, figuring out a new place and settling in to a new existence. I am so grateful that we chose to arrive a couple of weeks before my school starts (November 30 is the first day of classes, we are both doing an intro course on the 25^th), it has made the whole experience a little less stressful. Every day we have taken a little drive and explored part of Asheville or other surrounding towns (a.k.a getting lost :)). We have already discovered a little cafe/bakery in nearby Weaverville that we are a fan of (and where I am using the internet from right now). In general, the countryside here is absolutely beautiful and, although it has rained a bit, I am loving the fact that I have on sandals and a skirt today.

I could go on forever about a million other little things, but will save some of the details for later posts. Hope everyone is well and happy and thank you to everyone in our life that has helped us get to this point!

From March's draft Folder

I wrote this back in the day and didn't post it for some reason, when I checked in on the blog for like the first time in forever (just now) and realized I had done this, I figured I may as well put it up although it's all old news....

It's funny how something about traveling or being on the go makes me more tuned in to putting posts in here, that it makes me feel life is more interesting to write about. I mean, part of that is true, but at the same time, if it is something I enjoy and there are still people far away from me that I want to be able to stay in touch with, then why not keep writing, right?

Anyway, time has flown since we arrived back in Driggs. We spent the first few weeks doing a lot of work for my parents on a little house in town that they own as a rental and moved in here the first part of March. It is wonderful to have our own space that is only ours, especially because we hadn't ever had it before! I love the colors we've painted things and it feels good to have a home that is "ours," even if it is temporary. My cat Buddy, who was living with my parents, is living with us and keeps us both good company, although he is a little liberal when it comes to sharing his cat hair, but what can you do?

Winter is still hanging on here, which is not our favorite season by far. However, we were lucky enough to have a few friends give us a few free ski passes at Grand Targhee, so managed to go up skiing a few times (on a sunny day of course :)) which was really fun. I think everyone in Driggs is ready for spring and summer though, ourselves included. 

The third weekend in March (the 21st) my parent's hosted a wedding reception/celebration for us here in Driggs which was absolutely wonderful. Some of my mom's family came up for the weekend, along with a few of my good friends from Whitman and plenty of local friends. We had the reception at the Lynn Ranch, located up near the base of the mountains in between Driggs and Victor. I got to wear my wedding dress again (smiles!) and it was great to see so many people and have everyone meet Noah. (We joked that it was his "coming out" party.)

In addition to the reception wonderfulness, my younger sister, Robin, was home for two weeks at spring break and she FINALLY got to meet Noah, which was way past due. Also, it was just great for me to see her and catch up, since I've missed her the last several months and there was just so much to catch up with!

For the last several weeks, Noah and I have been helping my Dad run the Junior Jazz program in the valley (little league basketball) by refing games and running the game clock. It's sort of fun/torture though because the kids can be so darn cute and have so much fun, but on the other hand, people take it too seriously sometimes (parent's mainly) and it is no fun watching the same teams loose week after week (that doesn't always happen, but there were a few this year). However, last Friday was the last game, which I think we are both thankful for, but will also miss it a little...maybe.

In general, we are in a position of being pretty free with our time (noah more than myself) which is nice, but also a bit challenging for us both individually and as a couple. It's something we both aren't very used to, but I think it is a good lesson for us to learn. This week we are doing a spring cleanse which involves a modified diet for seven days and yoga classes every night for five. Our first yoga class is tonight and it has been nice to know we won't be crazy working or anything for the week. 

Right after the cleanse ends, we are heading to Las Vegas (of all places) with my parents for a week vacation in the sun. It's not the normal type of Vegas vacation though, that's not my parent's or us! The main draw is really cheap airfare hotel etc and warm, sunny weather, plus a week away from here. We are both looking forward to it, although keep shaking our heads in disbelief that we are actually going. I think it will be good for us though, apparently there is all sort of cool desert hikes to do around the area and I, at least, am down for the pool, some tennis etc. 

I guess as hum-drum as that feels, it is a short re-cap on the last few months bringing us up to now! Hopefully in the future I will write more frequently (because I enjoy it) and then be in a position where giving the quickest summary won't be necessary!

Oh, and I guess, Happy Easter!

Home Again

Well, we are back in Driggs, and strangely enough, it feels to me pretty much just like it did before I left last time. Except now it is winter. Funny how that is. 

We arrived home and basically jumped right into, well, everything. We have been quite busy the two weeks since coming back, which has been a good thing overall I believe. The wedding reception has been finalized and organized. I think I have managed to send paper invites/announcements to many who would like to have one or may be able to come. However, I know I have missed people (if you've ever done it yourself, you know how knarly the address tracking down can be, especially short notice) and, at this point, I would like to say that if I missed anyone who can or would like to come, please don't be offended, rather go to the website we have to find out the details and to RSVP! The website is: http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/MarthaHansen&NoahBarge 

It is good to be back, as wonderful as being in Australia was and, even though we still don't always know what we are doing, we are in a much better physical location to try and deal with the obstacles in front of us. Plus, for me, it is beyond wonderful to be home with me parents and to have them meet Noah. The hardest part is that Robin has yet to do so, but she will be home for spring break very soon and I can hardly wait to see her. 

We are currently living in the guest room/basement area at my parents, which is actually working out quite well--particularly because we don't plan to stay for too long. We have been helping them out by re-painting and getting ready for a small(yet major) remodel of one of their rental houses here in town and are hoping to be able to move in there in the next couple of weeks, even if only for a few months. Winter is definitely here, but the last few weeks have been quite sunny and warm for February, so it's helping us ease into things. Life is just cruising along and doing well! Love to all!

Top Three

Top Three Things I Miss about Australia:

1. The beach, ocean and sunshine. I know the beach isn't for everyone, but I'm one of those lucky ones who love it, and miss it, although the Tetons are a pretty decent trade-off--plus, it has been pretty sunny since we returned. 

2.  The toilets. Seriously. American toilets suck. They are SOO full of water and prove to be totally inefficient in comparison to the water-saving, half-flush/full-flush toilets in OZ. I was (and still am) shocked every time I flush the toilet and watch what a struggle it is for all the contents of the toilet to make it down. Come on North America, where is the innovation coupled with environmental consciousness at?!!

3. The red and green "engaged" and "vacant" gadgets found on every public toilet everywhere. The are good ideas in airplanes, why not restrooms? Plus, girls, how many of you have ever walked into a public restroom and had to bend down to check for feet under the stalls to see if any were open? Never had to do it once in OZ, once I was back, first bathroom I went to in the airport had me swinging my head up-side down to see which stalls where available. I miss not having to do that.  

Top Three Things I DON'T miss about Australia:

1. I hate to say it, but the accent. It really grated on the wrong nerve, especially by the end. Don't get me wrong, I still quite enjoy much of the vernacular (I do miss getting to use the word massive whenever I want to...), but the tone and sound of the accent, not my favorite....

 

2. The spiders. Especially because so many of them are so very poisonous, yuck. I will be OK though if I never see another Huntsman for quite sometime (they are maybe an average size of an outspread human hand...). 

3. The Syndey public transit system. I know, it's public transit, which is such a good thing, but we spent so much time and money just getting from necessary point A to point B, that we can't help but be a little tinsy bitter. Plus, the way it is organized, one has to go all the way into the city center to head back in a different direction (no east west routes). I was grateful it was there, but don't miss feeding the system time and money one tiny bit.

A few more things!

First! I keep forgetting to say, to my far flung friends (and those not so far flung), that we will be having a Driggs reception on the 21st of March, which I believe is a Saturday. I do not know many of the details yet, but will soon. The idea is that official announcements will get mailed soon. If you are someone who is from far away and needs more info to see if you can come, send me an e-mail and pester me. I'll get to it soon. Much love to all!!

Also, I think, if I did things right, this is a link that will take you to a copy of our wedding ceremony:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=d3ffs7c_0cp5kdkgc

The Blues to White to Driggs!

The Blues
Whew! So, whirlwind trip up north, a crazy day in and out of Sydney, and we end up at a hostel in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains (as mentioned at the end of the last post). Then, something happened. We both got sick of moving around like we had been, we both lost road-tripping energy, we were both grumpy, at each other, at the weather, at the road map...you name it; basically, in a lot of ways, we were just OVER IT...whatever you choose to identify IT as, we were probably over it. So, we spent a full day at the hostel and didn’t even leave to get milk; we just ate and talked and played backgammon and read and figured out what to do with the change in momentum. We decided it was time to go back to Kristin’s, even if there were a lot of cool things to see and do in the area. We were done. So we went back...and started getting ready for a wedding! (Although, we were mostly already prepared for it). The thing was, as excited as we were for the wedding, as much as the whole crazy affair, from Yogaville to Australia and onto now, has been and continues to be this wonderful adventure, we both were feeling more and more definitively that our time with Australia was over, it was time to move on to the next step, the next chapter, the next challenges. Between our energy, money, paperwork, motivation, and a whole slew of other known and unknown factors, we decided to come home early. So the Friday before our wedding we changed all our tickets around and got ready to leave on the 10th (the traveling process I am in the middle of at the time of this writing). That done time to get married!!

To White
As I wrote briefly, the day was wonderful and beautiful and really, despite everything...I guess easy. The ceremony was at 5 pm in the evening, so we woke up in the morning, had our coffee, got food ready for the afternoon (we had hummus, pita, diced tomatoes/cucumbers mixed together, greek yogurt, fresh fruit, crackers, some fancy cheeses, champagne, and most importantly my mom’s oatmeal chocolate chip cake for wedding cake). After getting everything packed up in the car since we would not be coming back to Kristin’s, Noah left with the car to go into the city, check into our hotel and get ready for the wedding. He was such a mess and so cute. I was so grateful that his friend Sarah was in the city to meet him and be there with him while he got ready! I, meantime, had lunch back at the house with Kristin, Robyn, and Peter, then started getting ready with Kristin. That took just about long enough...Peter snapped some pictures, loaded us in the car and drove down to Kirribbilli to get married!!! From there, it was easy. The ceremony was short, I hardly remember the details because I was just smiling and looking at Noah and holding onto his hand like there was nothing else! I guess I could probably post the written text on here so all you interested parties (if you are) can read it. I’ll get that worked out. Anyway, the ceremony was great, Noah surprised basically everyone, especially himself, and remained dry eyed and composed the whole time (later he said he thought the main reason he hadn’t was that he was in utter shock at how beautiful I was when he saw me walking up the path that his tear ducts didn’t know what to do, that made me cry!). After the ceremony Noah and I spent maybe a half an hour walking around with Peter doing photos. I really have no idea how long we took, mainly Noah and I were walking hand in hand talking and Peter was snapping away, occasionally telling us to stop and look or stand and pose somewhere (although never needing to ask that we smile!!). It was a really special bit of time that I will remember forever. When we came back to the park, all the food was spread out and we (all 8 of us, including noah and myself) spent the next few hours eating, drinking, visiting in the park, getting smiles from passerbys and simply enjoying the place, the company and the occasion. It was beautiful.

At about 8pm or so, we packed things up, said goodbye and many thanks to Kristin, Robyn and Peter, then caught a ride with Matt into the city where he dropped us off at our hotel. We spent two nights in the hotel and, although it was not the classiest joint in town, it was not the worst and being in our own space, that wasn’t a tent for even two nights was wonderful and fabulous. We took ourselves out for a wedding dinner to this really wonderful woodfire pizza place (we had both been craving pizza for over a week), watched TV, sat in the sauna, and enjoyed our time. Upon checking out, we moved over to Matt and Jerry’s house in Marrickville (near Newtown) for our last few days. We really did not do much other than run a few last errands, wander up and down Newtown some, enjoy Matt and Jerry’s company, and talk about how excited and glad we were to be heading home so soon—even if it is winter. Our first night, Matt and Jerry took us out for a celebration at this wonderful Indian restaurant and another night we made dinner for them, we both really enjoyed their company and conversation. I snuck in a quick hello to my friend Haakon who went to Whitman with me and is now married to an Australian. They were just returning from a 5-6 month trip to the states and we had been planning to spend some time with them later on the month. Regardless, it was another small world moment getting to see him and say hello and catch up even if for an afternoon. He and I both had a laugh over the fact that we are both married now, long before many others we went to college with—partly because we would never have guessed it ourselves!

To Driggs!
Well, that basically leads us to now...we dropped the rental car off this morning (tuesday), made it to the airport and started waiting. The last bit of this entry can be written after the travels end me and him back in driggs together!

At the moment, we are not quite back in Driggs, but are together. We both made it to LA safely, the time change is so strange. We left in the afternoon on Tuesday the 10th in Sydney and arrived in LA before the time we left Sydney...strange. Anyway, we got to Salt Lake City last night and had a room at a hotel my parents had reserved for us. That is where we are now. Noah is still asleep upstairs and I am just excited enough to be home that my jet-lag only allowed me to sleep 7 hours last night, so am killing time and trying to let hime sleep! (I slept more on my flight than him). But, we'll be in Driggs by this evening, we have a bus at noon from here to Rexburg, then a ride with mom from there to home!

It is definitely a bit of a shock to be in the cold all of a sudden again, but is almost a nice change, at least for a day or two. Already, probably the hardest thing to adjust to is going to be the hours of daylight. I hadn't even thought about that, but when we landed in SLC at 7pm and it was already dark, I was reminded of that. Oh well, it's all about trade-offs! OK, think that is all for now :)

Georgia and the North Coast

So, as I sit in the Fiji airport in transit to LA, and eventually home, it seems like a perfect opportunity to try and catch up on past stories and write a blog entry or two...

Man, our road trip up the north coast feels like ages ago, although only a week and a few days have passed since we returned. In a nutshell, it was a jam-packed, rather hectic (yet relaxing) few weeks, with MANY Kilometers covered. First, the car: Georgia. We rented the station wagon with a camp stove, a tent, two sleeping pads, some dishes, and a road map included. Getting ourselves out of Sydney was a long day; we first took the bus in from Mona Vale (wedding dress in tow), I went to a fitting for my dress alterations at a shop downtown, then we caught the train out to Traveler’s Mate, got lined out on the car, directions to a grocery store and out of town, then were off. Noah did all the driving, but, especially the first bit, both of us were constantly saying out loud, “short left, lllooonnnggg right” to one another, since that is one of the strangest things about driving on the “wrong” side of the road. Noah was a rock star though and safely drove us and the car out of Sydney and up the coast. We had been thinking our first stop would be Myall Lakes National Park, since it is relatively close to the city and we knew there was camping. However, we didn’t roll into the area until near dark and were pretty sure all the camping would be filled up since it was summer holidays, so spent the first night sleeping in the back of the car parked along a random small town street...the adventure begins!!! The next morning, we moved into an official campsite in Myall Lakes, which was a relief. While here, we took this small side trip to these sand-dunes along the coast that you can walk over (maybe 2 km?) to the ocean, it was really gorgeous and the geography was totally unlike the surrounding area of the rest of the park. It will definitely be a spot that will be a picture in my head forever.

From there on up, we were go, go, go. I think we were both just so relieved and excited to be finally out on our own doing something—and not located in a city—that we just drove. Within 4 or 5 days, we found ourselves up the coast about 300 km north of Brisbane (or more? my map is not in front of me) but just south of a town called Bundaberg in little village on the ocean called Woodgate Beach. We stayed two nights in Woodgate and it felt like we were there for a week! Other than figuring how to live out of a car, navigating, getting used to driving on the left, and basically spending oh so wonderful time with one another with nothing to do, there are a million other stories to tell :). I’m not sure I have the energy for them all! We were going to stop in Brisbane for a night-twice-and actually drove in once, parked, looked for a hostel for maybe 45 minutes, then decided to get the heck out of dodge! (I’m thinking we aren’t so much city people...). Quick highlights...we stayed three days in Byron Bay, which is sort of a circus of a town, but there is a reason it is a tourist destination. We took a snorkeling trip, which was basically a new thing for Noah, but a great thing to do, the site was out in the ocean near this random rock, so different than many places I’ve snorkeled, but we saw a turtle, a sting-ray, a massive jelly-fish, and a few different kinds of non-threatening sharks. Overall, Byron was a much needed pause in our frantic driving and we had a really great stay there, plus we found the best chocolate-banana thickshake in, possibly, all of East Coast Australia (thickshake = milkshake, milkshake = flavored milk a.k.a chocolate milk etc).

Probably one of my favorite places we stayed was this tiny little national park out in the middle of nowhere, located a fair bit inland. We had changed our minds earlier in the day about where we were going to go for the next night (what else is new) and chose this place instead only because the map told us there was a campground with toilets in the park. To get there, we drove inland and the landscape became increasingly dry, baren, and sparse. We drove through a few little towns (the ONLY towns out that direction), but other than that, nothing for miles. Then, all of a sudden, BAM we took a turn off for the park and found ourselves driving on this tiny, curvy, one lane road surrounded by green jungle on both sides. It was wild. The place we camped only had a few sites and there was an incredible view of the sky with no light pollution. We layed on our back on the grass looking at the stars and started naming them, since neither of us recognize any of the stars down here with the exception of Orion. If it weren’t for both our tendencies to change plans all the time, we would have never ended up here, but are both so glad we did!!

The final specific mention I’ll make is a place called Bellingen. Matt had recommended we stop here and missed it on the way up, but managed to swing by on the way back to Sydney. We could have stayed several more nights than the two that we did. Bellingen is located near the Dorrigo National Rainforest, which is, as it sounds, a proper rainforest that we walked through. The town had this funky, relaxed feel and a river that ran through the middle of it that one can swim in, intertube down etc. We took a little side trip to an area called Never Never Creek where we drove on this little road out in the country, stopped, parked the car and wandered up a little creek full of swimming holes until we saw one we like and jumped in. We also played golf, wandered around town, watched the hundreds of flying fox bats come out in the evening and spent a fair few hours playing backgammon at the hostel. The day we left, we woke up super early so that we could make it back to Sydney the same day for my final dress fitting in the city. Talk about a hectic day! We stopped by Mona Vale, made it to the dress appointment, then headed out of town to the blue mountains for a few days before relocating back to Kristin’s for pre-wedding stuff. Now, since this entry is quite long...I’ll start from there on the next entry, just to break things up!

Mrs!!

Here's a link to a quick few photos of the wedding from our "official" photographer and another 8 or so from the camera of a friend in attendance. Everything went beautifully, the weather was great, the food was good, the location beautiful, and the gathering afterwards small, relaxing and just great. We have actually changed our plans and will be leaving Australia next Tuesday, February 10th and will head back home to Teton Valley and the snow. Until then we are planning to stay with Matt in the city, do a few more errands, return the car, get packed, and enjoy our last few days of sunshine and summer. Thank you for all the warm wishes and good thoughts, I think if you try, you may be able to feel the glow from my smile right now if you stop and concentrate. Much love.

http://picasaweb.google.com/marthakmart/TeaserWeddingPhotos?feat=directlink

Northernly tour pics

Working on a more complete written blog, but enjoy the pictures! We are back in Sydney getting ready for a wedding on Tuesday, crazy! Love to all.

And then...

Wow, so much as happened (again) in such a short time since I last wrote a blog post.

First, I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!!!! I know it seems crazy, but this is the really good kind of crazy. The "life never really happens like that" (does it?) kind of crazy. It feels like I have known Noah for years and can't imagine my life without him.

Second, I'm getting married, here in Australia on the 3rd of February. Still the really good kind of crazy, although there are other factors of somewhat boring (yet legitimate and important) nature that have helped to propel the wedding up to as soon as possible. And, as it happens in Australia, the soonest a couple can get married is one month from the day they decide they want to get married. (All marriages have to be noticed a minimum of a month and a day before the wedding occurs, hence our February 3rd date). We are planning a small ceremony, I bought a dress, we have a handful of friends and "family" (my Australian family that is) who will be coming. We are going to get married at the Jeffery Street Wharf which is this tiny little strip of a park in North Sydney practically under the Harbor Bridge looking across the water at the Opera House and the city. It's perfect (and free). This is all something I never imagined would be happening in the way it is happening but am, I guess, crazy and in love.

Third, although we will be married here, we are planning to have a reception in Driggs sometime soon to be able to share the ceremony and love and everything else with our friends and family at home who are perhaps too far away to make it to Australia, but who may be able to make it to Driggs. Right now, we are thinking this reception will be held sometime the last two weeks of March, although that date has been thrown all over the place in the last week. In addition, we will be having some sort of reception in London when we are finally able to make the trip up North to visit Noah's family.

Fourth, despite all the hecticness, stress, ups, downs and basic roller coaster involved in the decision to get married here, now, then planning a wedding in a week and a half, we are ridiculously happy, know we are making the right decision for us (and our future), and honestly, are a bit shocked ourselves. I personally get more excited every day for the moment when I get to mesh the world I have been living in the last 3+ months with the world I have lived in for the last 24+ years--even if that meshing will get a bit messy at times, I can't wait for everyone to meet Noah and for us to move on forward in the world together.

Whew. So, other than that, we've still been having fun and keeping way busy. Most importantly we are leaving Kristin's house today to go pick up a car we have decided to rent for the rest of our time in Australia. It is a station wagon and the rental price includes a complete set of camping gear from tent to chairs to cook stove, and we are planning to head up north towards Brisbane this afternoon. The tentative idea is that we will tour up north and back between now and the wedding, then down south in between the wedding and the end of our stay in Australia. Once we get ourselves on the road, get out of here, and have a chance to focus more exactly on the adventuring, that plan will become more solidified I would imagine. But for now, we are so looking forward to getting out of Sydney, seeing some more of Australia and basically taking a holiday from our holiday :)

Other than the ring shopping, dress shopping, calls home to friends and family, meeting with our marriage celebrant, working on our ceremony, finding a place to have the wedding etc etc, Noah has been going to yoga classes at a studio in nearby Mona Vale. They had a great 5 classes for $25 promotional package and that has been great for him. Kristin and I went in for our long awaited Circ show at the Opera House, which was quite entertaining, full of impressive acrobatic feats, and well worth the time and money.

The Sydney First Festival opened on Saturday night; the whole CBD was closed off to traffic and stages were set up all over the place with free live music and dance performances being held all over the area. The city was absolutely packed. Noah and I met up with my friend Matt Parsons (from high school) which was great fun. Because there were so many people though, they had to stop letting people into many of the stage areas because of the massive crowds. This meant that the three of us seemed to be just behind the crowd bubble and we didn't really get to see anything except part of the this musical pirate ship fire act that looked like it was going to be very entertaining, but was in actuality, quite un-impressive. That was fine though, we simply retired to Matt's house early (we stayed the evening with him rather than taking the bus back to Mona Vale, amazing on a number of levels). We had a great time hanging out that evening and the next morning talking to Matt and Jerry and quite enjoyed seeing the house they have just moved into, even though it was still in it's unpacking phase.

So, up, up, up and away. That is where we are off to now. Time to finish the last bit of packing and work at getting myself and our stuff on the road! (I think we are both a little nervous about the whole driving on the left side of the road thing, but we have been told we will be used to it after a day or two, hope so!)

An End And Another Beginning!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!! The holiday season has rapidly come to a close just like it always seems to and time really does seem to be flying by faster than it normally does.

CHRISTMAS:

Christmas in the sun was definitely different, but that almost made being away from home easier--because the whole atmosphere and feel of everything is so different than what I am used to. It was wonderful to have a place to be and a family to have Christmas with and I cannot stress enough how beautiful Kristin and her family have been to both myself and Noah. We had a big "North American" Christmas Eve dinner that I was in charge of cooking (my first turkey!) and it turned out wonderfully. We had a turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie and pecan pie and green beans and bread--the works basically. It was good fun and all turned out quite deliciously. The next morning we were all up by 7 or 7:30 and opened some gifts (the OZ Santa even managed to find us, leaving a handy Aussie cookbook/slang guide, some vegemite, some Sydney playing cards and a few other appropriately Australian goodies :)). After presents we went to the beach for a bit, ate brunch, took a nap, and had Christmas dinner with Kristin's extended family. Pretty rough day all in all. Christmas Eve was the day that a bit of homesickness caught up with me, but it was short lived overall. Noah bought me a puzzle (my family has a holiday season tradition of doing puzzles all the time) that we built, which was super sweet of him. He even managed to find one that was a picture of the Tetons, go figure. All in all though, it was a pretty good Christmas and I can't think of a better place to have been than here given the circumstances.

NEWCASTLE:

After Christmas, Noah and I took a short trip up the coast to Newcastle (about a three hour train ride from the city) to visit his friend Sarah, who he knows from the Yoga Teacher Training course he took in Mexico last spring. Sarah is here to do a Masters program that starts the end of February and has been living in Newcastle (where she studied abroad during her BA) and working for the last little bit. We had a wonderful few days with her and quite liked Newcastle. We stayed in a hostel but spent most of our time outside split between restaurants, beaches, parks, and walking between all three. I had met Sarah a week or two ago but it was fun to get to know her better and spend time on what felt like a mini "holiday" (I guess, in a way, a holiday away from our Sydney holiday...). She will be moving into the city in the next couple of weeks since her Masters program is located at the university here and it is fun to have another friend around.

NEW YEARS, ETC:
For New Years, Noah and I decided to brave the crazy crowds and headed into the city to see the Harbour Bridge Fireworks (because hey, how many times will I be in Sydney for New Years?) We didn't go too wild and crazy about it though and headed into the city sometime around 4. When we arrived, we walked over to the Botanical Gardens to see what the deal was and turns out there was a line to get into the viewing areas winding it's way at least a good half a mile back if not more. We shrugged, decided to not wait in the line (since it was almost guaranteed they were going to stop letting people in quite soon, once the vantage points fill up, they are closed off), and went to hang out in Hyde Park, people watch, and eat a little picnic dinner before wandering down to Darling Harbour for the 9 pm firework show. Darling Harbor was equally packed and teaming with kids and families, which was kind of fun. Here we met up with a couple from Ireland we had met the day before (Patraic and Lorraine, friends of my friend James who I know from my travels in Belize. They have been living in Brisbane the last year and came down to see the fireworks, we had dinner with the three of them (James, Patraic and Lorraine) the night before on our return trip from Newcastle. Whew.) We had a great time with the two of them and after the 9pm show started to wander down toward the bridge to try and find a spot for the midnight display. We stopped along the way at a pub and had a beer (since none of the four of us were too keen on going to find a spot and than standing in that spot for an hour to see the show). The laziness didn't set us back though and we managed to elbow our way into a viewing section just behind an official vantage point where we had a pretty straight on view of the Harbor Bridge. The crowds were a bit overwhelming and it didn't help that at about 20 minutes to midnight, two ambulances attempted to drive out through the crowd where we were standing (which was quite tightly packed to begin with). You can imagine how that went. I'm impressed no one was hurt and no fights broke out. The ambulances did make it out, but their exit also resulted in the creation of a standing crowd where no airspace existed between yourself and the next person. Thank goodness I'm not claustrophobic!

Just as the tension of being packed in like sardines (coupled with the indignant anger many were feeling towards the ambulances) was starting to rise to an uncomfortable level, the fireworks started (thank goodness) and all focus was shifted to the show. They were incredible. The show lasted about 15 minutes and the bit we got to see well were the fireworks coming from the bridge, although we could see other bits off to the side through the trees and buildings (there are several locations along the water where fireworks are sent off from, so that's how you get the incredible view that you see online of the Sydney fireworks where the whole harbor behind the Opera House looks lit up). All in all, it was a memorable New Years Eve. Oh, and the best part of it all? I was wearing chacos and a summer dress...

Beyond all that, we are still here at Kristin's but are thinking about trying to rent a car/camper van for a month or so and heading out of town and exploring for a little while. I'm still getting to go to the beach nearly daily, which is wonderful, and we are sort of just hanging out. Tomorrow I am headed back into the city to meet up with Matt Parsons, a friend I went to High School with, and simply continue to be amazed at how small the world truly ca be. Kristin and I are getting geared up for our show at the Opera House on Thursday, and summer is generally just floating by. How wonderful.

Well, here's to the New Year! Hope it finds everyone well!

P.S. Pictures to go with this post to be forthcoming in the next 24 hours...