the substitute home.

So I've been quiet lately, this is due to the fact I have no internet (yet) at the new house. As a self-confessed net addict, AND as someone who works online, this fact pretty much physically hurts me.

However, due to the move to Preston, I am a 15 minute walk away from many dear friends of mine. I have been pretty much living at Dean St, the home of Shona, Potter, Maire and Nath, since we officially moved - so I can hawk their internet. I have had to stay over multiple times due to my erratic roster. They are all brilliant for letting me hang at their abode - and it's been good seeing them every day.

Josh and I are busy planning our audition tape for The Amazing Race Australia - Season 2. We'd be brilliant, and we know it. We just need to pack this brilliance into 3 minutes of video somehow. We don't want to do anything too extreme or fancy, just something to show off our highly awesome team chemistry and personality (and epic weirdness).

In other news, Melbourne seems to think it's already summer. The last couple of days have seen temps up to 23C! The plants are following suit and flowers are in bloom already. The only thing I'll complain about is the friggen hayfever it gives me. Here's a couple of pics around my "substitute home" of the early spring :D

Project Bedroom, July 23

The sky from bedroom window.

Lamp from IKEA $30. Tray table $25 from reject shop.

High st from bedroom balcony

Ceiling rose with fugly lamp shade which I will replace.

Stay tuned for more progress...

Project Bedroom.

This is the view from Doncaster Shopping Centre, where Kayla and I had lunch the other day. I love the cityscape so much! Though from this far away it looks miniscule and is probably more of a landscape with a nice bit of window. Whatevs.

So, the process of moving has begun and with it I have started the process of setting up what I hope will be an AWESOME bedroom.

My bedroom has french doors that lead out onto a little balcony. The walls are cream-ish. There's a big rectangle ceiling rose on the ceiling, which is high.

I'm thinking kinda french provincial but only kinda... I don't want it to look too try-hard, I'm doing this on a budget and can't afford things that look truly authentic. Basically, at the moment I like white, and lace, and anything remotely french looking, but still simple. Hmm...

My bed is going to be blue and white and cream, my wardrobe and drawers and bookcase will be white, and when I am done with it it's gonna look freaking awesome. Stay tuned.

Tom flies

Today, my younger (though much bigger) brother Tom moved to Melbourne. He has officially become a grown up, and what an epic way to do it! He arrived at 11 this morning, when me and Kayla greeted him at the airport with a massive green and gold sign (G'day Thomas!) and now I am no longer the only one of my family living out of New Zealand.

So in Tom's first few hours of being really and truly independent, he moved countries, and as soon as he arrived we were off to the real estate agent so we could sign the lease on our new place! That's some extreme nest-flying if you ask me!

I've almost teared up thinking about Mum and how upset she would have been saying goodbye to Tom, and how sad she would have been all day.
(Ok now I am seriously tearing up.) Poor Mum! Lucky she has two extra kids at home, haha.

Anyway, it's great to have him here. Though one thing I'll have to teach myself to do is think of him as a housemate as well as a little bro - I have already found myself on numerous occasions worrying about him and thinking that I'll have to look after him and make sure he's okay, or that I know where he is at all times. But then I think, he's my housemate now. I don't know where Maire, Kayla, Courtney or Aaron are half the time, and I don't worry about it.

Once Tom knows all the ropes, and his way around the city a bit better, he'll be sweet! It's going to be a lot of fun living with him and having family around all the time. Perhaps he can even look after me sometimes, haha. In the meantime, I will remain in protective big-sister mode till he's all settled in!

xx

Happy news.

So some pretty brilliant things went down today. First of all, I smashed out my final assignment last night, and I am officially DONE with university forever! It's exciting, but somewhat sad in a way. Another era of my life is over. I was definitely ready to leave though, after doing a semester extra than I should have, I was well and truly over attending classes and listening to douchey hipsters point out their pretentious opinions, or listening to mature aged students arguing with the tutor because they're old, and clearly know more about the world than anyone else in the room. However I will miss student life and the perks that come with it - youth allowance, going out on weekdays, cheaper everything... (wait, my student card doesn't have an expiry date! Muahaha, thanks La Trobe!)

The last thing I'll ever submit. Peace out LTU!

Anyway Kayla and I then went to get lunch at one of the uni cafe's, and the boy there made my day by bringing the price down on my meal. Bless his heart.

Nothing was more delicious than a big-ass burger to celebrate my finishing uni... The proper thing to do would have been to go and smash some beers in true graduate style.. but we had more important things to deal with and that brings me to my last BRILLIANT thing.

Earlier in the day we'd gone to a house inspection and fell in love. We were shown through an apartment above a shop on a busy street filled with cafes, grocers and random little shops. The apartment was perfect for us - newly renovated, it looked basically new. The three bedrooms were very decent sized, still had restored art-deco period features on the ceilings (which were HIGH and awesome) and the two front ones had little terrace balconies going out onto the street.

Kayla and I had a good old yarn to the agent and he was a very decent bloke - he made us feel as though we had the place secured already. The other group being shown through were three asian guys who seemed disinterested. We took some applications, went home, smashed them out, and took them straight back to the estate agent to apply.

Less than an hour later I got the call: THE APARTMENT IS OURS!!

This is our new kitchen! It's so newly reno'd that the exhaust fan still hasn't been installed, haha!

So THAT is my brilliant day! Been a while coming! I feel as though two great weights have been lifted right off my shoulders. 

Tom arrives in the country tomorrow and our household will be complete. We're going to sign the lease as soon as we get him from the airport, and then all the fun stuff like packing can begin! Hooray!

Hunting woes.

So I haven't posted for a while and this is because I am literally at my nerves end with this house hunting business!

We are really struggling to find something decent. Kayla and I have lived out of home for four years now, and while we aren't expecting a luxury home we've been trying to uphold some sort of standard when it comes to what we want. We don't want the tiny kitchen and grotty, cramped bathroom that is typical of a student house. We don't want grime in our shower and around our mirrors. We want bench space. We want some level of cleanliness.

It is seriously shit that we apply for somewhat decent houses, and immediately a family is given preference to it over us because it's a "family home". They look at our ages and we're immediately disregarded. We may be young, we may drink alcohol sometimes. This doesn't mean we're going to trash your house! We may not earn 100K a year, but we earn enough to pay rent and we only have ourselves to look after! Two thirds of our household are going to be full time workers and the other is a Masters student. Seriously!

Take in a family with young kids and I guarantee your nice white walls will be covered in felt-tip and sticky chocolate fingerprints in no time. Hey, they might even shit on your floor for good measure. It's all ok! That's what kids do, and this house was built for a family! Their parents will clean up after them!

Don't even think about leasing your house to a group of responsible twenty somethings who know how to clean up after themselves, and are certainly past the days of crapping on the carpet. GRR

Home Shoppin'.

So the hunt for the house is well underway - well sorta. We are on the lookout constantly. There are so many factors we have to take in, and we have to keep a budget in mind as well. Just cos I have a job doesn't mean it pays well!

Here are a few types we are looking at, plus pros and cons.

This is a very cute house. It's just in our budget range. But the con? It's a fair way away from where any of our friends are living. We've felt a bit detached being further out from the city from our friends this year, and we want to be closer when we move. (This is closer to the city, but on the other side to the friends.)

This one is in the location of my dreams. It's near the corner of Smith and Gertrude in Collingwood, VERY close to the city. Taxis would be unnecessary, and the rent is shockingly cheap..

And therein lies the problem. WHY? Is there a roach infestation in this house? Will we die of hypothermia? Is the toilet in the main bedroom? 

Admittedly it's not the best looking house I've seen but there must be other reasons to its cheapness. We'll check it out.. warily.

Now, this one could be perfect. It's much cheaper than we're expecting to pay, and it's 4 bedroom, not 3 like we're planning for, so we'd have the option of a fourth housemate and EVEN CHEAPER rent!

Cons? This is not much further in to the city than we already are. Cheap rent would be a plus, but I would never wish the commute to the city that I endured for over a year to anyone. Let alone my own flesh and blood. (Oh yeah did I mention Tom is living with Kayla and I? That's our new household. Exciting!)

And then maybe you might find a house that seems absolutely perfect. Close to Thornbury train station, affordable rent, close to our friends. Easy right!?... No. No it friggin' isn't. Because there is a huge competition when it comes to applying for houses. Especially perfect ones like these. And they tend to prefer people who have steady incomes rather than students, recent Kiwi imports, and poor beasts! 

Fingers crossed though, we're praying that we can call this (or something just as good as this) our home very soon!

Lawrence Court vintage.

So the hassle and cost of hunting for a new house has begun. There's so much to do, and so little money, and we are constantly chasing up things that need fixing, replacing or cleaning. Maire, Kayla and I have never had much luck with our fourth housemate. The three of us have lived in this humble abode without hassle for over 18 months, but we rotate fourth housemates like they're going out of fashion. At the moment we're struggling massively because one of the girls refuses to pay us for a set of keys she lost (meaning we have to replace the locks) and the landlord's lawnmower, which she ruined by putting in straight petrol instead of 2 stroke.

This photo is the "Lawrence Court Originals". It was one of the first nights we were all together in the house. Laura, the blonde, was the "fourth housemate", she left after breaking up with her boyfriend (one of our best friends), demanding a whippet dog and cracking the shits when we said no, and generally not getting along with us. Hopefully she's happier in her new house... (Not that we'd know as she deleted us all from facebook)

But despite such ridiculousness, we are pretty happy that the three of us have managed to stick together through the trials and tribulations of Lawrence Court. It is going to be too weird not living together anymore :(

Hello Kitty

One of the downsides of living in a rented household full of students is the fact that we can't have pets. Kayla and Maire have both had fish - and don't get me wrong, the fish are pretty, and cool to watch, but you can't hug and pat a fish. A couple of Kayla's also caused some emotional turmoil when she'd come home and discover that they'd jumped. Yes, bowl life proved too much for these little beasts and unfortunately, suicide was their chosen way out - finding the lifeless, orange bodies on the floor is an unpleasant and stressful time for any fish owner.

Cats and dogs don't off themselves like that.

Since I was 9 I have always had a cat or kitten. Our current family cat, Mazda (yeah that name's a long story) is the greatest feline ever known to man. He has suffered through endless smotherings from my siblings and I (but mainly my siblings...), multiple cat fights and trips to the vet, family holidays that required stints in catteries, and he's crossed the freaking pacific in the cargo of an airplane! You would think such experiences would turn him into a pussy (no pun intended..) or an angry, ungrateful jerk of a cat. But no, Mazda has outstanding tolerance and patience, allows himself to be smothered and inhaled like he's coke by my brothers, and never hisses or bites or scratches.

A couple of weeks ago I slept in a bed with a sweet ginger cat sleeping on the end. It made me miss Maz in the extreme. I was tempted to take it home with me, but doubt that would have gone down well with its owners. Sometimes I hear a cat meowing near my window, and I have to resist the urge to let it in (I'm assuming it belongs to the neighbours, unless I am seriously hearing things.)

Our living arrangements make it hard for us to have pets at the moment - we are renting, so we're not sure if we're actually allowed them, we know a few people with allergies, and we have big clashes in animal preferences. Our ex-housemate wanted to get a WHIPPET. Um.. Whippets are beasts of canines that require a lot of exercise. This girl had the energy levels of a freaking sloth. We live in metropolitan Melbourne, our backyard is no place to keep a massive dog. She was very unimpressed when we said no. (Seriously. She was cooked...)

So the point of these ramblings, brought on by looking at Mazda's facebook page (my then 12-yr-old sister's doing) are this: As soon as my living arrangements and budget allows, I am starting my Australian family. I shall go to the Victorian Cat Protection Society and pick out a little kitten that I shall spend the next couple of decades with. He or she will spend many a night at the end of my bed. He or she will know my children. He or she also has some big paws to fill - After all I have known Mazda, the greatest feline ever known to man!

Dad, Mazda and I, when I visited for my 21st. He knows how to work the camera!