Job Joys

A job has to be somewhat enjoyable and fulfilling for the worker right?

I'd say.

Or what else would motivate me to hustle out of my bed in the early A.M. each morning?

Money?

Boredom?

Perhaps, but actually- I really really like my job.

It's true.

I have to give credit to my customers though.  The callers that make it all possible.  That make me smile everyday with their crazy phone calls.

Example... 

me: "Good morning, Church Offices."

caller: "Who am I speaking with?"

me: "Kaylee Bennallack"

caller: "Oh well I just want you to know that I'd like to renounce my faith in God and that the DEVIL SHALL RISE AGAIN."

me: "Great.  Thank you.  Bye."

Oh geez, how can you not chuckle?  

Who even knows why this bloke needed to inform me of such things.

Thanks.

Although, not all calls are laughable...like the continuous people who refuse to press the correct menu button and come through to me.

News flash: I'll just put you through to the same place that pushing a button would get you.  

This way you just get to hear my lovely voice.  

Oh, that's what you wanted?  

Well ok then.  

Done.

I have learned my lesson with phone menus.  Listen to the options and then and only then if you still don't know which one to push, then choose the operator.

Love it.

Or maybe I love my job because in training last week we got paid to make movies.

And not informational movies, mind you...okay maybe they were supposed to be, but they didn't end up that way.

Picture co-workers,

in ridiculous wigs and costumes,

given two hours and a camera,

with 3 random items and a saying that must be included in our "movie".

Ready, GO!

Yup, that was my Thursday afternoon.

Love it.

Love my job.

Love you too.

Bubble

I am Glinda.

Did you know?

No, I do not have a million pairs of shoes, sing beautifully or have green friends,

but!

I do travel by bubble.

Haha, that would be cool if my bubble floated like hers.

Mine is a more, er, practical adaptation.

Meet Mrs. Bubble Car

Zoom!

Doesn't it just look like a little tiny bubble car?

Let me tell you, it feels like a little tiny bubble car when you drive it!

I feel like I could just pick it up and drive it all over the couch and pretend we're in treachorus mountains like the days of my youth.

Yes folks-that is what we're driving for the next week due to a leetle fender bender a few months back.

I feel like I'm driving a toy car. 

But I fit in it.  

How snazzy.

So next time you accidentally step on a kid's toy car,

think of me. In my bubble toy car.

Zoom!

Ouch

Phil is a talented guy.  

So talented  in fact that he went up for a rebound while playing basketball and he 

skillfully

landed right on the side of his foot.

A phone call to Kaylee, some limping to the car and some ice later, his foot looked like this...

The guy on the right. 

Nope, his ankle is not just normally golf-ball size!

(sorry for a foot photo guys- it could not be avoided) 

He went to the doctor the next day who told him he'd done ligament damage but the prognosis:

the pain will just go away if you keep walking on it.

Walking in pain, but that will help.  Fancy that.

So Phil's been doing just that.  

He's had a pretty trendy foot lately with nice colorful bruises and a cute 'kankle'.

We're just lucky he didn't do real damage.

These feet were made for walkin'!

Sydney Markets

This weekend was good.  A good weekend it was.

A trip to the shops to stock the Bennallack shelves after work on Friday.  Followed by a quiet night in and an accidental fall asleep at about 8:30.  Yes folks.  8:30.  Who are we?

Even though our early bedtime was completely accidental, it worked well with our Saturday plans.  Saturday mornin bright and early (5:00am early) we busted out of bed to go to the local flower markets.

Guys.  This was a beautiful decision made by yours truly.  And it was not to be regretted!  

Phil had never been and wasn't too fond of the early wake up when I informed him of my desires to go.  Oh well.  We decided to go anyway (love you babe) and I'm happy to say that we both are happy that we did.

The flower markets were great and we were really excited about the fruit markets that were right there as well.  The prices were sensational and I LOVED the feel of it.  It was just masses of fruit everywhere with people in their own little stalls.  (Similar to the beginning of Aladin...minus the Saudi Arabia part and the cool song-ok maybe not so similar, but...similar?)

Perfect.

We plan to go back.  Not every Saturday mind you...we do enjoy our beauty sleep.  We'll just stock up when we do go.  YES!

 I always tell Phil that fresh flowers just brighten the home, but we weren't going to pay top buck for flowers.  Problem solved.  Thanks flower market!

Check out my score:

11 daisies for $4?  Yes please.

I paired them with Billy Buttons to give it some color.  I'm such a fan of Billy Buttons.

 (yes there is water in that vase.  special magic water!)

I love them.  Love love love!

And now I'll leave you with this proud Aussie moment that I'm also loving right now.  I watched this and felt proud to be here.  Australia is great...just far away from my roots that's all. 

Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi!

xoxo

Friday

I love Fridays.

Fridays = no traffic in the morning work commute- meaning 15 more minutes at home with my lover.  We still haven't quite figured out why this blessing occurs every Friday, but we are not complaining.  10 more minutes in bed? 

Yes please.

Thank you Friday.

This beautiful Friday I've found some new chill music.  On my Australia equivalent of pandora the beautiful music just keeps coming and coming.  It  makes me want to just curl up in bed and listen to the rain on the roof.  Possibly not the best option when I have 6.5 more hours of work to make it through.  Oh well. Warm Australian rain, ahhh-I can't complain.

This vid was from the Jan 2nd downpour. 

Lovin the lightning and thunder.

  The power went out so we busted out the lanterns at the Kroks.  It was a fun experience.  I used to love power outages as a kid and I can't remember the last time I was blessed with one. 

(of course I only want them to last as long as it's convenient...but still)

So while we enjoy the warm rain, my fellow Utahns are enjoying the snow storm.  

It's funny to wake up in the morning to a million griping facebook statuses about the snow. 

It never fails. 

Facebook statuses announce the Utah snow.  

Funny.

Enjoy your Friday people.

my...friends?

Happy love day a while back folks!

...yeah I'm behind.  But I was 2 days early in going on a V-day date so cut me some slack.  

Here's a little treat I made for dessert and games with our friends on Sunday night.

Oh aren't I just soooo festive?  Red = v-day festive.  Ha!

Ah, my mouth is watering now.  

These may be one of my guilty pleasures.  

My little indulgence. 

 Small yummy-ness in a little bite. 

(little meaning always room for just one more!)  

"Me want brownie covered oreos!"

...that's my thought process-outloud.  Wow, thanks for sharing Kaylee Jo!

Speaking of little indulgences...

the other day Phil was talking to me and says

"Sometimes people are talking about hospitals and I just get all excited and think ooo! I have the best story for you about hospitals!  When I was there the other day there was a grenade in someone... oh wait.  That was Grey's Anatomy!"

How pathetic.  Even more pathetic?  I'm the same, if not worse.

I find myself thinking, why haven't I heard from Isy in a while?  Why isn't Meredith texting me about her life?

Oh wait...they never did any of those things.  I'm just watching made-up characters on TV.  And now I feel like they're my friends.  Blast!

But we can all relate right? 

(or at least I hope I'm not the only pathetic TV loser out there)  

We crave our shows every week because we have to know what happens next.  Remember when it's not even someone's real life and it's actually all made up?  Oh bother.

But I find slight comfort in knowing I sometimes crave watching basketball games and other sports.

Guys, those are real life.  

Not that they are my life in general-but it's real people with real names that play those games in their real lives.  

Some comfort...right?

So, if I miss your phone call today-it might just be because I'm catching up with my pals...TV style.

Sydney Aquarium

V-day = Aquarium Date with my one and only.  Yesir! 

Even though it was a couple days early, it still counted.  And it was a lot of fun.  Thanks Phil!

They have an amazing lego display on right now as well.  There were statues like this one...

...made completely out of legos!  It was crazy!  

Don't believe me?  Well here's proof.

See.  Legos.  Legit.

We were certainly impressed!

Check out this mural.  What if I told you it's made from legos too!  Yup!  All of it!  Legos.  

Incredible.

Legos.

Now that's my kind of man!  Nice and...square?...chiseled.  Green beard and all.

More (20,000 more) Legos.

Legos!  Told you, they were everywhere!

Now you practically don't even have to go see them for yourself because I took a photo of every one.  Yeah- we're lame.  But it was cool ok? Trust me.

Ok ok.  It is an aquarium.  I know.  So we did do more than just goggle at legos all day.

We checked out some other amazing things like these jellyfish. 

and this crazy seahorse guy.

I'm amazed at Heavenly Father's creations every time I go places like this. 

The world is so beautiful.

Alright. Thanks for putting up with my ooo-ing and awe-ing at the world.

Guess what else we saw?

The whole cast of Finding Nemo!  Who knew they lived in Sydney?  I know, you're thinking I could've assumed as much but I saw them.  In real life.  In real Sydney Australia.  For REAL! 

Meet Dory, Mr. Ray (haha, I love his face!), Spike, Crush

and NEMO!

(I think he got his fin fixed.  Lucky guy!) 

Check out these Dugongs too.  Ha!  Saying their name just makes me giggle.  Dugong. Ha!

They look like vacuum cleaners when they eat.

It was a nice day out with my Philly boy.  He just always makes me laugh, gives me the best hugs and I love him. 

(oh and did I say I love him?)

See ya later Alligator...or fishies...or legos!

(Moby Dick mural and whale shown above all made of, yup you guessed it, Legos!)

ps. Legos is a weird word specially when you use it 11 times in one post.  

Weekend

Friday night I sat here...

...looking at this...

with my lover. 

Does it get any better?

We headed out to the night markets, wandered around the booths and then found ourselves staring into the harbour with our Copenhagen ice cream while a live band swooned the some jazzy tunes in the background.  

I had to just keep remembering...

I'm not on vacation, I'm not on vacation

...but then I stopped thinking and took it all in.

Here's some photos of our night out in the city.

Tarts is 3

I love food.

You love food.

But did you know that you love tasting food?  I didn't until yesterday.

I love tasting food.

No taste = me yesterday.

Sneezing, sniffing and yearning for some deliciousness on my taste buds.

Wow. Ok. That last sentence was lame, but you get the picture.  Tasting is great, and I never appreciated it til' it was gone, so love your taste buds mmmk! (hmmm...now how to work my tangent this into today's blog...aha!)

Luckily, before this sickness killed my taste, we got to go up to Jo and Ants' house for Carter's 3rd birthday dinner.  All Carter wanted for his birthday was a "lolla" (lollipop) so that's what he got.  Look how cute the cake is Jo made.  She's so crafty!

We had nice dinner, sang happy birthday to Tarts and then had a yummy dessert!

{don't you just love their accents! :) }

 Auntie Llaine brought along a party game for the boys.  Tony loved it and so did Tarts...just off and on, for a few seconds at a time...until he lost interest. :)

Chillin with the Bush clan is always a treat!  Thanks for having us Jo & Ants!  And Happy Birthday Tarts!

xoxo

One Year

One Year.

Blimey!  Us kids are just so grown up...well when we want to be. :)

Phil and I decided to take a weekend off and head out of town to celebrate one year together.  Can you believe it?- He's still around!  Love you Phil.

We searched for the perfect place, and we found it!  We decided to book into the Q Station Hotel.  It's actually the old Quarantine Station here in Sydney.  It's right on the harbor it Sydney Harbour Nationtla Park.  It was old fashioned and quaint (what I love) so we gave it a go.

We booked a package that gave us an overnight stay, valet parking, a 2 course dinner for two, a ghost tour (yesir!) and then buffet breakfast.  It was perfect for us. 

Here is our beloved staircase.  We went up and down this beast once and that was enough.  We learned to take the shuttle the next time.  It had like 130 steps.  I'm out of shape, I know.  Judge me. 

This is the restaurant where we had dinner and the lovely stairs in the background.  

Our dinner was fancy shmancy!...no pics though, cuz please- who takes photos of their food in a nice restaurant?  Ha, certainly not me.

 

Remember when I said right on the harbor?  I meant it!  This little gem had it's own beach and all.  I think a total of 10 people were ever down there at once.  Paradise!

...ah...

It was such a cool place.  So historical. (I know I'm a nerd. Get over it)

These were engravings from ships that were quarantined here.  Some are from the 1800's.

After dinner it was the ghost tour.  It was...different, but actually really interesting.  We went in buildings that have been literally untouched since the place closed down.

This is the shower building, with showers to the left and right all the way down this hallway.  

Quarantined passengers had to take acid/water showers here because back in the old days they thought if people shed their skin, then the disease would leave too...lovely.  Sure glad we live with modern medicine these days.  This was definitely an eerie building, specially with just our lanterns. 

Here's the old luggage de-contaminators...(ha is that even a word?)

The hospital...sit on an old creepy bed guys.  Yup, that's what we did!

Not such a fan...maybe it's cuz it was a million billion degrees outside and even hotter in the building...

Ok ok- maybe I'm a little spooked.  maybe.

Check out this ghost we caught on camera.  It's legit.  As legit as Phil and a reflection.  Ooooo! :)

It sounds all dark and dreary but trust me- it was really interesting.  I just loved touring the site.  What better way to explore old abandoned buildings than by lantern light?  Oh boy.

 Really though, it was cool.  I'm not lying.  For real.

But there was nothing cool about the weather.  

Hottest day in Sydney in 5 years?  Check!

No air conditioning because of the historic buildings?  Check!

Cold shower at 5am?  Check!

Soooo not the best night's sleep ever, but really, with the temps being at a steady 43° (105° F) for the previous week and getting down to only 35° (95° F) most nights plus the scorcher on Saturday, we had to cut the hotel a break.  Even if we literally fried in bed.

But don't worry.  A shower at 5am = watching the sunrise over the harbor from our veranda.  I wouldn't have missed this even if it meant more sleep.

*Note to self: future home will have a classic Australian veranda

Our blissful sunrise morning was followed by a quiet and serene buffet breakfast with the kookaburras and the best food ever. Really.  Anything you could want.  In a beautiful National Park.  Yes please! 

On the way home we stopped off to take in the view from North Head.  Straight ahead is the city, Sydney. 

To the left of this photo is the entrance to Sydney Harbor, and Q Station just to the right.  Thus passing by quarantine on the way in to Sydney was just right on the way for ships.  Smart.

It was sublime.  We went home sleep deprived (thank you heat) and sweaty but we loved it.  I would go back in a heartbeat.  I'll just bring our fan this time and not have my anniversary fall on the hottest week ever.

Done.

xoxo