Countdown

Malaysia Airlines 747 by mattingham.

Just on a month until Rish and I fly out to Germany… 25 days away, planning to visit Vienna also, and will spend a few days in Malaysia on the way home, you know, to eat and to see his extended family, oh and to take advantage of having a free Stopover there with Malaysia Airlines (MH122 and MH6 there, MH123 and MH5 on return, for my airline nerdlings ;).

I trust that the backlog of volcano passengers will be cleared and we won’t have to deal with them (or have full planes, I hope not!). Of course, I bought my travel insurance as soon as our flights were paid for! Can’t leave home without that! Still have a few things to sort out, but getting there.

Still unsure of my plans for my time there… Trains will be in order.

Any tips for places between Frankfurt and Vienna that I must go?

Ta! :)

Febusaving for Flights to Germany

I’m not a bad saver – I have my ING direct account which I direct $500 to each fortnight on payday, plus I have extra payments in the home loan account, but it would be nice to see how much more I could be saving if I cut back on the little expenses that add up through the week – the takeaway soy lattes, the diet cokes, the bought lunches that I could have easily brought from home with a little planning.

Febusave is an ANZ bank led campaign to get women looking at their finances and what they could be saving towards with a little better money management. On the site they have tips and education on savings and finances. Another site they have going is SmartyPig which allows you to open a dedicated account to save towards your goal. You can make transfers, and friends and family can help you out along the way!

What am I saving for? Flights to Germany this Summer!

(no idea what airline I’m going)

Rish has a conference, so why not tag along and see some of the country? :) I haven’t been there yet, so many things to see and do! (and save for!) I actually won’t be saving for the flights themselves, as they’ll go on my credit card as soon as I confirm my dates, and I have the cash to pay that off… more i’m saving for is for spending money, accommodation and so on.

It will be a nice way to finish my uni semester – it starts back next week, and will go through til mid May. I have my own conference to go to (back to Melbourne!).

Wish me luck? I’ll try to let you know how I’ve gone ;)

My Distraction: The Great Ocean Road

As I head into a weekend of writing my final essay for my Managing Complex Behaviour subject for this semester, I have a little light to look forward to – hitting Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road for a week at the end of it all.

The car has been hired, but still planning what to do and where to go in Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road in the time….

Any suggestions, my dear stalkers?

Short hair

Short hair
Originally uploaded by phonakins

So, I went through with it, with only a few winces. :)

Now I can focus on more important things, like remembering to take my passport!

So Disorganised

Last day of work today before … Greece! *squeals and bounces and stuff* (or at least I would if I wasn’t out late yet again last night! These are bad habbits I’m getting into… Probably shouldn’t become a regular at Muddle Bar… even if I do love the people I meet there and the cocktails :p)

Anyway.

I have a few hours this morning at work to do things like sort my desk out, make sure all my files are up to date, all my letters sent ahead of next term. Boring, mundane jobs that are going to need coffee and an ipod to get me through them.

Haven’t started packing… will probably start tonight after Japanese – though still won’t get home from that until 8:30 ish and have to eat dinner, and get Rish to chop my hair off. Figured I’d go for it, make like easier for the month when I’m away. Hopefully I won’t cry or hate it :p But, it’s only hair, and it tends to grow back :)

*gets excitable*

Sleep? What Sleep?

Had a lovely weekend *grins*

I finally watched Fight Club on Friday night. Excellent movie (not partial to the beating in of heads, but you know, have to deal with it to get the rest of it). Can say that I’ve seen it :) And could return the DVD to a friend we’d borrowed it off way too long ago :p (Crush on Helena Bonham Carter has just grown)

Coming home to snuggle up and watch a DVD after gym, instead of hitting the Canberra Centre in search of the end of the sale bargains and to look for a new mobile phone for Rish.

Instead, we did that on Saturday… 4 hours worth of wandering later – I have a new pair of running shoes, Rish has the new Nokia 6220 to play with, and I had REALLY sore feet, and threw a little tanty *heh* Still managed to gym it up, though.

Was going to craash out for an early night but talked into heading out for coktails… I’m so easily persuaded! :) Nice to get out, though I was struggling to stay awake – not so good as I was the designated driver as Rish’s arm probably isn’t right yet for driving… 2:30 bed time.. :)

Had friends over for a BBQ lunch today, to catch up again before we head away. I lost both games of 500, with different partners :p WEll, we technically didn’t lose the last one, it never ended, so maybe we’ll rematch them when we get back from Europe :p (Do they still give out playing cards on airlines? I’d love another deck to add to my collection! I think I’ve heard of them being handed out on Emirates flights – I’ll have to ask :p)

And just now I’ve come back from the oval – sprints across the field with Rish *dies*

So, things hurt, haven’t had much sleep, but I’ve had a wonderful weekend (yes, I even got the washing done) and am ready to hit the four days I have remaining at wor before my holiday! *dances*

Accidental Detox

It seems I have restored my sensitivity to caffeine while being off these past couple of weeks. On normal work days, I’ve built up to having a cup of tea with breakfast, a coffee when I get to work at 8:30 while reading emails, another one about 10:30 when I hit mid-morning, and then have a diet coke at lunch time. Occaisionally there is another caffinated drink in there, and often a tea or coffee late afternoon, depending on what my tastebuds are up for. (or if there’s cake. ugh. I’ve been on cake detox too).

But, over the past couple of weeks I’ve only had the occaisional coffee (such as at McDonalds Goulburn on the way home from Sydney last weekend, and the instant coffee I had in the hotel room because I knew I needed to wake up for a long night ahead)… and only 1 diet coke – the half a can I managed at lunch on Monday before realising that I really shouldn’t be at work, and went to the gym instead??? I got told off by my doctor for that, don’t worry. The can’s probably still sitting next to my keyboard, with the rest of my mess…

So, I think I’ve been on some sort of involuntary detox from my caffeine/diet coke addiction. And because I’ve been semi-conscious and my liver has been dealing with codeine and the antibiotics, it hasn’t missed haing other things in my system to deal with.

So where to from here? Do I attempt to stick to this and maybe stick with the tea over the coffee (possibly half to caffeine, according to Wikipaedia) and cut that diet coke out of my lunch… leaving it for the days then when I actually want the caffeine in my system?

nataliedee.com

We’ll see, it’s back to work tomorrow, and while I’m kinda looking forward to being a normal working human-being again, I don’t want to think about the mountain of emails that will be there for me to answer, and two weeks behind in things to get done for the term.

But there’s only 6 weeks of term left – a public holiday on June 9, and various other things such as PD (stuttering, manual handling, and evidence based practise) to tick away the days until July 4 – last day of term and time to leave Canberra for a month! (yes, I’m crossing off the days) :p

That Holiday?

Tha holiday that I’m so desparately needing/wanting? It’s a month away! :)

Boxing Day (Dec 26th) Rish and I are heading to Queenstown, NZ to have the summer NZ trip we’ve wanted, and the celebrate our 10th anniversay :) *dies*

The flights have been booked for awhile now, but we just haven’t gotten around to the accomodation side of things. Browsing now, I see a few places that could be promising – we don’t want to spend too much, but since it is something special don’t exactly want cheap and nasty! :p

We’re staying with friends for a couple of the nights, and then needing to find someplace for new years and the night after, but are also having a few nights to ourselves… for some much-needed r&r…

I’m getting excited just typing about it!