Weekend Schmeekend Update

The novelty is starting to wear off a bit & we're settling into a routine, which I like. I remember as early as second grade wishing that we could skip the "First day of school" and fast forward to three months in, when everything is routine and expected. I know that doesn't sound exciting but it is comforting. Anywho.. this weekend is a bit uneventful but still eventful in some ways.

Last night we got dinner with an AMAZING (Australian) couple who we were introduced to by a friend. We went to the Melbourne Wine Room, which was fabulous and enjoyed a great dinner and lots of wine! Our new friends have promised to teach us all about Australian rules football (footie - sp?) which will be necessary to socialize in this place! It was so great to have another couple to talk to who are our age and share similar interests - the night was a success!! Leading up to it I was worried because it felt like a "blind friend date" and what if they didn't like us?? Luckily I think we made an okay impression and hope to not seem to eager to hang out (but our social calendar is pretty open).

Today (Saturday) was very low key. We got brunch at our favorite neighborhood place: Apte, where we've had brunch every weekend since we moved here. As usual the food was fantastic and pushed me to go to the gym b/c the bacon is amazing but is still bacon. After the gym Sean and I went grocery shopping (woo hoo) and came home. We spent the afternoon reading, napping and planning our trip to The Great Ocean Road. We are planning to do a mid week trip next week since there are some issues with the plante where Sean works that have resulted in a few sporadic vacation days.

There is not much else to report. We did pretend it was Memorial Day here for us tonight and had a BBQ.. We are VERY jealous of the weather back home!! It has been in the 60's and rainy here all week so the sun and warmth everyone is experiencing in BOS/CT/NY is making us home sick!

YIKES!!

The "Rat, Possum, Krueger, whatever it is" is VERY loud and woke us up from a sound sleep last night. Sean wrote a note to his HR director to see if they could help to have the apartment place take us more seriously.

In terms of updates there are a few..

The plante that Sean's company is building will likely be closed for at least a few days because of a really bad accident that happened yesterday. Luckily the man who was injured is stable and should make a full recovery - but - that means we will have some time on our hands. Sean wants to travel - but I feel like we just got here so maybe we should get to know the city/country we are in before making a trip - but that is TBD.

Brady seems to be doing really well. The quarantine said I could visit three times a week so I visited on Monday, today & will go back again tomorrow with Sean. Brady is very excited when we visit and it's good to get him OUTSIDE and exercise, etc. I am still counting down the days until he can come home.

We have started watching "Top Chef" Australia & it's really good. They did an episode this week that took place in Melbourne and had them shopping for ingredients at Queen Victoria Market, where we went last weekend so that was fun.

The pedometer is ticking.. I log close to 10K most days, especially when I go to visit Brady - but it's a lot of walking. I am still enjoying the gym but haven't lost a pound! I am hoping I'm gaining muscle faster than I'm losing fat but who knows.. I'll stick with it.

8 weeks

8 weeks will have been (or will be) the length of time Brady has been in quarantine. The length of time can also be represented as:

• 56 Days
• 1 month, 25 days
• 80,640 minutes
• 1344 Hours

No matter how I look at it it feels LONG. I went to visit Brady today, it was raining but I didn't care. I sat with him in his kennel for about a half hour. Birds literally flew in and sat down a few feet away from us, he didn't even budge while I rubbed his tummy. I could tell that he needed to be rubbed, pet, cuddled, just as much as I needed to do all of those things. His little brown eyes stared right at me and I could tell he was fine, he wasn't sad, he just needed some love. I think I am feeling the same way. I am fine with the big move, much better than I thought I'd be, but I still need some hugs and reassurance.

After a while I decided to take Brady into the play yard, even though it was raining. The poor little thing only gets out to play when I am there so even though he normally doesn't like the rain I thought he'd like to get out. I was right! He ran around, ate a bunch of grass (it's okay, he's not sick, just happy to be out) and lifted his leg to pee on a tree. I had been worried because he stared squatting to pee but today the leg came up and I almost jumped up and down. I did notice that he had developed some dandruff though so I made sure to tell the staff before I left. Wayne, the manager of the place laughed, he said he calls it the "quarantine dust".. I can't wait to give him a nice bubbly bath when we get him home.

While we were in the play yard I talked with a woman who had two big white dogs that had come from Malaysia. She was saying she was counting the days until her pups got out but she had heard a lot of dogs become better behaved after their stays in quarantine. I decided to start thinking about Brady's stay as if he was in "Doggy Reform School" or away at a camp with Cesar Milan. I could tell he was already losing some of his diva behaviors and was acclimating just fine, I am really the one that is going through the most stress over this.

When I said goodbye for now I left a bunch of treats hidden in Brady's little house so he'd be preoccupied and associate my leaving with happy thoughts and treats to find. He didn't cry as I walked away (although he did try to sneak out) so that made me feel much better. Regardless of how I count down the days his "graduation" can't possibly come fast enough, but I don't want to dampen our time here by biding time. I will just keep trying to turn everything into a positive and focus on how lucky I am to be in Australia and to have a little Brady.

I will also enjoy being able to leave my underwear, workout pants, etc. on the bedroom floor without worrying about their being eaten while I am asleep.

Sunday Funday

My last post (Sunday) stated that I was going to the gym and Sean was going to watch the Celtics game - strike both of those things out. My gym isn't open on Sunday and the bar that Sean thought would be playing the Celtics game didn't have ESPN. To make matters worse it was a gorgeous day and every single person in our town was out and about with their dogs. I had a moment of tears and missing Brady but quickly got over it, I'd be visiting him tomorrow and we should focus on the positive!!!

I suggested that we take a walk to the park near our house. I had been wanting to show it to Sean and there are a ton of trails, one that even goes all the way into the CBD (15km). We were feeling adventurous and decided we'd walk to the CBD, get lunch and then get the train back. The beginning of our walk was great, aside from the HILLS. There were tons of people out on bikes, running, speed walking, it was a great day for a walk in the park.

We ended up walking for a good two hours & did something around 8km (after getting a bit off course). We decided to get lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in the neighborhood where we landed. Sean found the restaurant in his "Cheap Eats" book & he ordered what they suggested to order. I ordered "Lemon Chicken" which was in the stir fry section. Sean's meal was amazing - lots of veggies, flavors, etc. My meal looked like fried chicken in a slimy, yellow sauce that was the exact color of Brady's pee. I assumed stir fry meant it included vegetables and rice but the only thing on the plate was the chicken. It tasted okay but I was thoroughly disappointed because I do this all the time (order the worst thing on the menu). Sean decided that when we had dinner that night (we were meeting some of his colleagues in the CBD) he'd order for me.

As we left the restaurant and headed for the train I looked at my pedometer and saw that I had logged a little over 8,000 steps - WHAT?! How could we have been walking for over two hours and I only took 8,000 something steps?! Was my pedometer broken? I don't understand how this could be true - OR how any human being can get close to 10,000 steps on a daily basis. I walked a mile and a half to the gym today, walked around town, walked to and from the bus stop, up and down the stairs, and have only logged 7,028 steps today (it's currently 7:30pm).

Is 10,000 steps a realistic and attainable goal? I am still going to strive for it, especially on days that I don't go to the gym but I am not going to stress to0 much.