The house we almost bought!

Well as most of you probably know, Paul and I are looking to buy a house here in Brisbane. The market is going mad and will soon make Wellington property look cheap! So the sooner we buy a place the sooner we make money - wahoo! Plus we can tell our useless landlord to f off! He has just put our rent up another $10 p/w! That's a $40 p/w increase in 3 months! And he has done nothing to fix up the house for any of that money! Grr to useless landlords! But hey, it's extra motivation aye!

Anyway - so Paul and I almost bought a property in Brighton last week! We were under contract and everything! Unfortunately when we had our building & pest inspection done on Saturday the guy found that about 85% of the piles needed to be replaced. He also found live termites! And the damage they had done was categorised as "extensive"! So in the end, after a lot of thinking, weighing up options etc, we decided to pull out of the contract! And considering (a) how relieved we felt afterwards and (b) how surprisingly little money we lost (due to convenient little things), it was definitely the right thing to do.
However it is still sad as the location of the property was really nice! It was right next to a park at the end of a cul-du-sac and therefore only had neighbours on one side and across the road!

Here are some pictures of the Brighton place though :-)

The view of the house from the driveway

The raised deck out the back! It was really nice out there!

What would have been our neighbour :-) Just a nice park! There was trees et next to the house and then 2 soccer pitches behind the property - and they weren't used in summer either!!

Stay tuned for more news though - who knows when we'll find a place :-)

It's been a while

Well it's been quite a while since I updated my blog. This new project I'm on at work is keeping me pretty busy so I haven't had the time to do my "quick morning updates" :-) I used to be the only early starter in my work room - but now there's another guy who starts even before I do! And considering I start around 7:15am - 7:45am that is a scary thought! Well either that or he lives nice and close to the city :-)

Well since i got back form NZ earlier in the month I've figured out that I have definitely started acclimatising to the weather! It's getting a bit warmer but a lot of the time I'm feeling cooler! And that has nothing to do with the fact that my work is an ice box - SO COLD! What is up with that! You get on the bus, go to work, go to the shops etc etc etc and the air con is always far too cold! To the point were you need a sweater! But then you go outside and it's really warm! Crazy stuff I tell you!

Paul and I went around to Debz and Lances place on the weekend for Isabelle's 1st birthday! That's was really nice! We were meant to dress up in Halloween costumes but Paul and I are feeling a little strapped for cash at the moment so we were a little slack! We went down to Crazy Clarks (sells cheap stuff/junk) and bought a couple of santa hats! We figured they'd last till Christmas and then we could be "in the spirit of Christmas" a little ;-) Sorry Debz for being so slack - but hey at least we wore something :-)

Well better get back to work!

Latas
Ange

A couple of pictures :-)

Here are a couple of pictures from my latest trip to NZ.


The group at Ben & Megan's wedding out at Bridge Lodge in Otaki. I loved Megan's traditional Korean dress that she wore :-)
(back) Crystal, Paul, me, Rebekah, Blair, Nic, (front) Megan & Ben :-)


Kat, me and Teresa at Southern Cross (old Zebos)
Can you believe this is the only picture I took! It was a fantastic day and I loved catching up with everyone :-)

Our NZ trip

Well Paul and I got back from NZ yesterday morning - what a LONG day that was! Up at 3:15am (12:15am Brisbane time) and out to the airport by 4am and left just after 6am! We landed at 6:40am in Brisbane but then it took forever for the bags to come through! So we didn't get out of the airport till 8am! Then it was on the train into town, with all our bags, and off to work by just after 8:30am! Then had to work all day before I finally gave up at 4pm and caught the bus home! But no rest for the wicked since the fridge was empty and the newly acquired booze required some mixers ;-) Well that and some food would have been nice too :-) So by the time Paul and I fell into bed at 9pm we were knackered!

But it was all worth it as our NZ trip was fantastic! I'll get some pics up soon but Ben & Megan's wedding was lovely and Megan looked fantastic in her traditional Korean dress :-) It was so good getting to catch up with them too :-) Sunday was so much fun as well! Paul and I were blown away by everyone turning up to our engagement drinks - so thanks for coming along guys! I loved catching up with you all! We're only sorry we couldn't spend more time with you all individually :-) Although with my voice the way it was I'm sure I talked far more than I should have - doh ;-)

And thank you very much for all those that bought us presents :-) They definitely weren't expected - so we will enjoy them even more! For those that weren't there I'll get some pics of the pressies up - I just probably shouldn't do that at work aye ;-) Te he!

Well best be getting back to that work stuff aye ;-) I just thought I'd better update my blog since it has been a while! Stupid colds :-( I hate getting sick! And that cold I had before going to NZ was a real doozie!!!!

Latas
Ange

I go walking in the night

Te he - it seems I'm back to my good old habit of going walk about in the middle of the night. Poor Paul! Apparently last night I got up out of bed and walked to look out the window (don't ask me why - I don't even remember it). Paul asked me what I was doing, to which I responded "SDFJHLASDFASDF" [mumbled] and went back to bed. How strange I tell you!
Sometimes I think it would be very interesting (and scary) to film yourself while you're asleep to see what exactly goes on in the night!
I think it's happening as I've had bad nights sleep for the past couple of weeks. Back in NZ, when I was living in Khandallah, I would simply sleep in for 10-12 hours on the weekends and that would mostly put me right. But the combination of the sun rising about 5:40am and Paul waking at the crack of dawn on weekends is meaning I no longer get my sleep ins. Gee isn't life sooo difficult ;-)

But I guess it's partly my fault too as I insist on getting up at 6am in the mornings so I can get to work early - I like catching the 6:25am or 6:35am bus which get me to work just after 7am. That way there isn't really anyone on the bus and traffic is lighter so it's quicker. It's so great at the moment as it's school holidays so there is a lot less people around the city. Normally the 6:35 bus takes about 35 mins - today it only took 25 mins - yay! Although that is less time I get to bury my nose in a book aye ;-)

I have been going running at lunch time a few times a week recently. But after feeling like being sick because of the heat on Monday, I've decided that is no longer an option. So yesterday Paul and I got up at 6am and went for a morning run together. I tell you - there is a whole other world out there in the parks at 6am. There were lots of friendly people who actually said hello to us :-) I actually really enjoyed the run - it was much cooler and it was nice to have some company! It's also good to see I'm getting some fitness back :-) Yay! So I think I'll probably do a morning run a couple of times a week from now on - I'll keep you posted on whether Paul ever comes again, te he he :-)

Well best be getting some work done! Oh yeah - it's raining again today - wahoo!! If it's still raining after work (storms forecast for tonight) then I might park the car out of the car port and give it a much needed clean :-)

Have a good one!
Ange :-D

An All Blacks win but .....

Well I assume as great and loyal kiwi's you all got out of your warm and cozy beds and watched the All Blacks play Scotland last night. Luckily for Paul and I, channel 10 was playing it live so we only had to get up at 1am & got to watch it with minimal ad breaks (as in they only had ads when to ball went out, as opposed to every 5 minutes when the game isn't live).
I must say it was a very error prone game! I'm hoping they were being cunning and misleading the rest of the rugby world about their ball handling ability etc as we really can't afford to muck up opportunities like that with a tougher opposition!
Well best be doing some work. Today is the last day of "normal" temperatures before a week of melting (todays high is 25 - the rest of the week varies from 28 - 31 degrees). So I need to get a run in today!
Have a great Monday!
Ange

pretty dresses

Yay - I just got home from a day of shopping. Lance dropped Debz off at our place about 10:30 this morning and we took off to Stones Corner to try on wedding dresses. Yay for getting to try on lots of cool dresses! There were some amazing dresses aye! I've found a dress that I'm really keen on so now I just need to sit on it for a week or so to see if my opinion changes. After all it's one of the most important decisions of a girls life ;-)
After our "hard" day of shopping Debz and I went to see Hairspray at the movies in Redcliffe. I really enjoyed it! I mean it was totally silly and all but that was just what I was in the mood for. I must say it's pretty hard to get past the idea of John Travolta in dresses and underwear though! Te he - disturbing!!
Well it's getting late so I'd better be off to bed :-)
Go the All Blacks against Scotland tomorrow night!! Paul and I will definitely be watching it!!