A Christmas Tribute

A piece of Okla'home'a that travels with me.  

Piece sign:  handmade out of Oklahoma Ivory by my Grandpa Cliff King

State of Oklahoma:  handmade out of Oklahoma wood by Cliff Wallraven 

Bird:  a going away present from my brother, Devin, and sister-in-law, Ashley

The men in my family are very talented and I am so proud to wear such beautiful carvings.

Christmas Morning Glee!

Christmas morning, December 25, 2010.  Jenni is cooking....everything homemade: bisquits, sausage balls, eggs, ham, gravy....yumm!  It was a bit of a chore finding all the ingredients she needed at the grocery store yesterday.  Like eggs in the cereal isle and shortening by the butter, but we managed!  I am cleaning a bit.  We have the house to ourselves.  It is 67.64 degrees fahrenheit (19.8 degrees celsius).  Perfect day for the beach with friends this afternoon.  We are blaring the Glee Christmas album I just downloaded :) Merry Christmas friends and family!  Love you all.

xoxo, C

All I want for Christmas is a monkey :)

When I was a little girl I used to ask for a monkey for Christmas.  I guess I didn't realize that was not a normal gift to ask for ;)

Waiting on the first tram...excited for Zoo Day!

On December 23, 2010 Jenni and I spent the day at the Melbourne Zoo.  It was great weather for a perfect Christmas-Eve-Eve at the zOo!  This is something we've been wanting to do for a while and both finally had a day off at the same time.  It took 2 trams to get there (apprx 45 min.) We got a bit mixed up between the two trams, but once we finally found the second tram stop the driver ended up being a breath of fresh air!  He announced things as we passed them and was very energetic and funny....it was quite the tour!  I wanted to share some awesome animal pictures with you guys....enjoy!

The second tram with the enthusiastic driver.

Busy day in Melbourne City

Just arriving at the Melbourne Zoo.

The Lion King

Three little turtles.

Baby bear eating a bone

Ring-tailed Lemur.  It has a beautiful long black and white striped tail.

Ginger sisters...... like me and Jenni!

umm...you have a little drool dripping from your lip, Ma'am.

Bongo:  Some African tribes believe that to eat or touch a Bongo will cause spasms similar to epileptic seizures.  This folklore has helped the Bongo to survive.

Red-haired Kangaroo

This picture was taken for my Koala-loving friend, Lisa.

Red-winged Parrot

My mum's favorite...the Elephant.

I bought this as my Christmas present to myself :)

Location Location Location

Arrow= new house     Peace sign= Boheme

Jenni and I have chosen to move to 18 Mary Street.  The location of the house just couldn't be better!  It is literally less than a 3 minute walk to work, located just right around the corner from Boheme.  This also means we are right off of Bridge Road close to everything we could possibly need, including public transport.  But don't worry ladies, we have invited the handsome Irishman out for drinks and he elatedly accepted our offer ;)

Decisions, Decisions.....

It is still rainy here, off and on.  We are actually enjoying it because it keeps it a bit cooler at night :)

Mine and Jenni's RaInY DaY pictures

Jenni and I have been on the hunt for a new place to live for the last week or so.  We were forewarned that James was looking for a more permanent housemate and now he's found one.  We are searching through Gumtree.com which is a website that is more backpacker/short term renter friendly.  We lined up two houses for viewing today.

This afternoon we visited the first house at 1A Bennett St.  A nice looking Irishman, Dave, age 30, owns the house and is renting out his extra bedroom.  He is an Electrical Engineer for the tram system and has lived here for 8 years.   He has a very clean, modern, and spacious house only a 15 minute walk from work.  The room we would be living in has HEAPS of closet space and a big comfy bed!  This is a good thing since, even though we are backpacking, we manage to fill an entire closet and set of drawers.....thanks to Lauren's good packing skills ;)  He was very welcoming and we assume he would be a good time since he IS Irish!  

This evening Jenni checked out the second house at 18 Mary Street.  I had to work at 4 p.m. today so it was all up to J-Pow to give it a look.  She says it was a very nice, newly renovated house, where we would live with 2 other girls, age upper 20's.  It is only a 3 minute walk to work (good, but not good for the bum!)  The room we would live in has nice wooden floors, BUT only 2 twin frameless mattress could be supplied. 

We have a decision to make because both have offered us the rooms.  It's time for us to list our pros and cons and hopefully choose the right one.  We will make a decision by tomorrow and move into our new place on Sunday :)

Sugar and Spice........

.......and all things nice, that's what little girls are made of!

On Sunday, December 12, 2010 I skyped with my brother and sister in law to hear the wonderful news of my new baby NIECE due in May 2011.  

So here is the part that gave me chills......I wanted them to have a boy at first because my family is very lacking in little boys. haha.  Then, two nonconsecutive nights I had dreams of playing at my parents house with the new baby, which was a GIRL!  It gets even weirder......I was skyping with my parents who told me the sex of the baby before Devin and Ashley did.  The conversation went as follows:  

Me: "so what is it?! Boy or girl??"

Mom: "well your dreams were right! It's a girl!"

Dad: "well if your such the little dreamer, then what was her name in your dream?"  (being facetious as usual)

Me: "oh gah, I don't even think she had a name in the first dream, but the second was, ummmm, Abby."

Mom: "They've decided to name her Abigail Elizabeth Oglesby!"

Ashley says her and Devin wanted a name that is "classic with a cute shortened nickname."  I think they hit it right on! Abby it is! I am a bit bummed to attend the showers and birth only through skype, but she will be at such a fun age when I get back and won't even remember me being gone :)  I can't wait to meet her!

Little Red Wattlebird

Every morning Jenni and I are waken up by a very unpleasant sound.  The Red Wattlebird is a large, noisy honeyeater. Did I mention, NOISY?  The common name refers to the fleshy reddish wattle on the side of the neck. The plumage is grey-brown on the body, with prominent white streaks and yellow on the belly. The face is pale and the tail is long with a white-tip. This bird is very NOISY. The Red Wattlebird's range extends throughout the southern areas of the Australian mainland and it is a very NOISY bird.  


I am not sure if I have mentioned yet that this bird is quite the noisy little guy.  
It has several distinctive but unmusical calls including coughs, a harsh 'yac a yac' and a loud 'chok'. 


Watch this 16 second video and imagine this wretched sound right outside of your window.  If only I had a blow gun.......
Red Wattlebird (Anthochaera carunculata) - An adult perched on a branch and calling before flying away. Australian Raven can be heard calling as well | the Internet Bird Collection

Rainy days, Best friends forever forever, and grapes!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

The best part of this rainy day is that I skyped with my BeSt FrIenD today for the first time since I've been in Australia!  Lauren and I got to spend the week before I left together in Duncan while I was staying with my parents.  But it probably wasn't as fun as she hoped since she ended up packing my bags for me! I think my mother would agree with the statement, "what would I do without my Lauren?!" I had a blast talking to you and your house looks so pretty with all your Christmas decorations.  We tried to 3-way with Cemby, but they figured it out just as we hung up so we'll definitely all 3 chat next time.  We talked about everything from recent happenings to being separated in high school classes for being too "giggly" together!  There is never a dull moment with this duo or as my dad likes to call us, "the retardo twins." Love you Lauren.  You will forever be my BFF4E ;)

Rain rain go away, please make these creepy creatures stray

Well, we thought we were coming to Australia right as summer begins.  Little did we know that we arrived during a massive rain period after a nearly 15 year drought!  It doesn't rain everyday, but it often rains off and on throughout the days.  The good thing is that I don't think we were quite prepared for the heat, so the days that there has been no rain we sweat to death at night.  We have not become accustomed to not having air conditioner yet.  The bad thing is we walk everywhere we go....rain or shine!  As mentioned before, ThAnK YoU Lauren, Rhonda, and Cemby for my handy dandy rain jacket!  Who would have thought it would be my most valuable piece of clothing :)

  Also, the rain has welcomed many little house guests to our home......slimy little snails.  I have recently discovered that not only do I think snails are super strange and ugly creatures;  they make me a bit uncomfortable.  I can now say that I have showered with one of these yucky little guys!  There was one on the shower wall and I was too creeped out to touch it so I just begged Jenni to sit in the bathroom with me to try to turn my attention away from it while I took a record breaking fast shower! haha  James (our roomie) stepped on one today while I was taking a photo for him out front of our house.  I was shocked and said, "I took a shower with a snail for nothing?!" haha  I didn't want him to think I was a nature hater if I moved it.....little did I know he didn't like them either.  Even our earth-friendly roomie doesn't like them because he says they eat his garden.  Hopefully there will not be many more rainy and snail-filled days here in Melbourne.  It looks like we may get some sunshine later in the week.

Everyone smiles in the same language. -- Author Unknown

Greetings from the land down under!  I haven't blogged in a few days and this is the time where the saying "no news is good news" is befitting :)  The only thing wrong is that my feet hurt from being on them all day and I am wondering where my Australian boyfriend is so he can give me a foot massage! haha.   

Things seem to continue to get better the longer we are here.  I am enjoying work and the people I work with.  I worked all night tonight and have a double shift tomorrow and work Saturday and Sunday mornings.  I got paid for the first time yesterday (I get paid every Wednesday) which made all the hours seem well worth it.  Next week I will get a change in scenery on Thursday night because Harriet, an Aussie girl I work with, and I are going to work Carols by Candlelight.  This is an Australia tradition that is a free event where people come together to enjoy great food, sing Christmas carols, and see Santa Claus!  I am excited to celebrate this wonderful holiday with Aussies and see the similarities and differences in the way their holiday traditions! Tonight at work a group of women had maybe one glass too many of red wine and walked out of the restaurant singing Christmas carols....it made me smile :)   
So the great news is that Jenni got a job at Boheme too!  She had a trial today and I am so proud of her for proving herself in the field of hospitality.  This is her first waiting job and I know she will be great.  Tomorrow night we work together so it should be a fun night!  This will be a good way for us to meet locals and make money at the same time.  Way to go Jenni!

Our German guy friends left for Sydney Tuesday on a Greyhound bus.  To see them off we all went to the beach Monday night, enjoyed some beers, and MANY laughs!!!  I seriously haven't laughed that hard since I can remember!  It was one of those nights where the silliest things had J and I laughing so hard there was no noise, just convulsions :)

Nothing shows your character more than what you laugh at.