HFDU - 16th Edition

Originally sent: May 20, 2004

Hi everyone! Well, I must admit that over the past month, much of my time has been spent catching up with B and making up for the 5 1/2 months that we spent apart. But, I did manage to squeeze in a few fun things and hope that you find this Edition of HFDU at least a little bit entertaining :-)

After my 10+ months in Australia, and in KPMG's Melbourne office, I had yet to attend one of the official "end of audit" lunches that the office is so famous for. That is until the lunch that occurred at the end of April! I'm still shocked at the effort that the Melbourne office puts in to events. We had 30+ people at the lunch, from all divisions of my company who worked on the same audit. The best thing about it is that it started about 12:30 and didn't end until about 10 hours later, so I only had to work half a day and then got to relax and enjoy myself with my co-workers for the rest of the day. Me and one of the managers were responsible for allocating awards to other staff members (for doing something memorable/entertaining during the engagement) and they were quite the hit of the afternoon! I think the lunches are a great way to reward all of the hard working team members and let us know that we are appreciated. After we left the restaurant we ended up at the pub downstairs and continued the festivities, and have plenty of digital camera photos to show for it!

The granting of my first wish for the Starlight Children's Foundation is now complete. My little girl and her family just got back from their trip to Australia's Gold Coast (where the Disneyland-type theme parks are located) and I am meeting up with them soon to see photos and hear about all of her experiences. B and I met with them just before they left and gave her some goodies for the trip, and she was so excited to get to ride on a big plane for the first time! In the meantime, I've been allocated my second wish child, who I think will prove to be a bit more challenging as his illness is a bit more severe. But, I think it will make the process that much more rewarding when it's complete and he is happy!

This past weekend I helped host a baby shower for a girl on my softball team and it was a great girlie afternoon. A lot of the food that I made was American food that I would have prepared for a shower or party at home, and the Aussies just loved it! I was amazed at how popular some of the stuff was! Unfortunately, I couldn't eat any of it because I was participating in World Vision's 40 hour famine. I started my famine on Friday night (after a full night of dinner & drinks!) and couldn't eat until 40 hours later on Sunday afternoon. For those of you who know me well, you know that I LOVE food, so this was a bit of a challenge for me - especially since I was making all of the food for the baby shower! I did make sure to keep back some of the goodies so that I could enjoy leftovers on Sunday afternoon when my famine was up :-)

And B was really supportive too because we went down on Saturday night to his family's holiday house on the coast and he didn't eat the entire time we were down there, until I could eat. That was a big help, but I'll tell you, I didn't realize how much energy food gives you! B and I were fishing on Sunday (at about 38 hours into the famine) and I could hardly walk through the sand on the beach because I had no energy! But, I made it and managed to raise just over $200 for World Vision thanks to the generosity of my co-workers. Oh, and can you guess what my first meal was at 2:30 on Sunday afternoon? McDonald's - 2 cheeseburgers, large fries, and a large coke. My stomach wasn't real happy with me but my tastebuds certainly were :-)

In an effort to work that meal off, and all of the other yummy food that I seem to constantly eat down here, I'm running my first 5k in Australia this weekend. One thing I really miss is the Houston office's running club, which ensured that I ran at least one 5k every month. Me and my friend CT have been running on Tuesday and Thursday nights at a nearby park in an effort to shed some weight and get more fit, so entering a race has kept us somewhat motivated. We also signed up for a 10k in July to motivate us to keep running! The only problem is that it's turning to winter very quickly and it gets bloody cold at night some times!

My family comes to visit in 4 1/2 weeks and I absolutely cannot wait! They will spend a week and a half in Melbourne with me, then we all fly up to Cairns (home of the Great Barrier Reef) for 5 days, and then they'll end their adventure in Australia with a few days in Sydney and I'll come back to Melbourne. I'm very proud of them for making the big trip down under and hope that this also encourages others to come for a visit as well :-) My best buddy AP comes a month after my family, and I'm really looking forward to that as well. As I have said for the last 10 months, one of the things I miss the most from home is my girlfriends, so we'll have lots and lots to catch up on!

Oh, and B and I leave in a week for our trip to the Outback and we are very much looking forward to it. We will be taking lots and lots of photos (as requested by my father) and will definitely share many of them on the website. It's supposed to be a phenomenal place, full of culture, really big kangaroos, and lots of adventures! I can't wait to get back and tell you all about it!

Okay, so the moment you've all been waiting for (okay, not really). What have B and I been up to over the last month? It was so good to see him again after so long, but it was very difficult at first because EVERYONE wanted to see him! But, our schedule is back to normal now and we get to spend more time together. I've become a resident "footy chic" at his footy club on Saturday's as he has a game every weekend. I've met the other girlfriends/wives and have a good time chatting with them during the games. I love watching him play - he's so passionate about it and it makes him so happy :-) We actually have a Ladies Luncheon at the footy club in a couple of weekends and it'll be a great time to enjoy girlie time at the club and apparently we will be handing out "awards" to the boys, although I don't know what for. His team is 5-0 so far, so every game proves to be a good one.

I took B on a surprise date to a night at "The Producers" which is a show straight from Broadway, that apparently has won the most Tony Awards ever! It was sooooooo funny and we laughed out loud on several occasions. I think because we are both accountants that it was a bit more humorous to us :-) He took me on a surprise date as well, and re-created our first date. It was so sweet. We went to dinner at the same restaurant, and then went salsa dancing at the same place that we did on our first date. We had just as much fun as we did nearly 9 months ago! It's so nice to have him back and get to have a normal life again, and we are definitely enjoying making up for lost time.

What else have I been up to? Hmmmm.......went bowling one night with B and his mates, which is always entertaining. I've been regularly attending trivia night on Wednesdays at a local pub, and every time I go I feel more like an idiot. But we have a good time and I've luckily got some smart people on my time who keep us in the top third of teams there. Now that B is back, he adds a male perspective and gives us a sporting advantage! It's been very cold at night here, but the days are still mild and enjoyable when it's not raining. The Outback should be nice & warm, as should Cairns. I've also begun mixing my vocabulary a bit - saying half Aussie things and half American things, and it's a bit humorous actually. I never thought that 10 months would have such an impact on me, but the Aussie phrases are definitely catchy!

I hope that all is well with each of you and am very jealous that you all get to watch baseball. Especially with Roger Clemens pitching in Houston, I'm sad that I have to miss the season. I've actually moved up to 6th place in my group's footy tipping competition (out of 51), which is pretty good for a "yank" with no past footy tipping experience! I think a few of the guys in the office are a bit perturbed, but it's all just good, fun competition in the end :-) I'll keep you posted on the Outback trip and would love to hear from each of you on what's going on in your lives. Take care and enjoy the summer!