Happy New Year! :)

Happy New Year, everyone!  I hope that the beginning of 2013 has treated you all well.  At the very least, take solace in the fact that the Mayan calender meant nothing and we're still alive ;)

At the Royal Botanic Gardens, which overlook the harbour.

The last few weeks of December were pretty fun for me!  Maybe a few days after my last post, Phil had an early day at work, so we went into the city and to the Royal Botanic Garden.  The gardens were really lovely and there were a lot of great places to take pictures :)  Phil and I realized while we were there that we've now been to two out of the three botanical gardens in Sydney (we went to Mount Annan Botanic Garden for a picnic with his family a few months ago), and made it our goal to go to the last one as well.

We had a really great day there, though.  We ate lunch on the grass and enjoyed the nature, even though all we had to do was turn around to see the big skyscrapers of the city behind us.  While we walked around, Phil grabbed a few of the flowers I liked the most and put them in my hair...which we probably weren't allowed to do, but it was sweet anyway ;)

About a week later, it was time for Christmas!  My first Australian Christmas was quite fun :)  Obviously, Phil and I both had the day off work, so we got up early and opened Christmas presents.   Phil bought me a portable speaker to plug into my iPod, Coldplay's new live album/DVD, the movie "Elf" (because I thought I'd brought it with me to Australia, but couldn't find it a few days before Christmas), and a jigsaw puzzle that we're going to start putting together soon :)  I bought him two CDs that he asked for, the movie "Get Him To The Greek", and a present I was most proud of: an apron that says, 'King of the Kitchen' on the front of it.

Phil, in his sexy new apron!

I bought Phil the apron because since I've been here, I've been teaching him how to cook :)  When we first started, he literally didn't know how to turn the burner on (oi vey!), but every Sunday night, I started teaching him how to make simple recipes.  After a couple of lessons, I turned the cooking over to Phil, and now on Sunday nights while I'm at work, he makes dinner!  He's mastered a few recipes now, including mince casserole, chicken casserole, and spaghetti bolognese.  I'm quite proud of him, though I knew he could cook if he tried.  I've been trying to encourage Phil to try new things (because you're never too old to learn something new, and there's always plenty of new things and experiences to try!), and cooking was one that he's definitely done well at.  So I wanted to give him something special to really boost his self-esteem in his cooking, and the apron seemed perfect :)

After we exchanged presents, Lucas got dropped off, and the three of us and Phil's mum went over to his family's for Christmas dinner.   Dinner was fantastic!  It's an Australian tradition to have seafood (or just cold food, really) for dinner on Christmas, as the holiday is the in the middle of summer here and usually very hot.  We had a full seafood buffet- prawns, calamari,  mussels, salmon- it was a fish lover's dream!  We also had traditional Christmas pudding for dessert (which is basically cake and a warm custard- really rich, and delicious!).

I had a great time celebrating with Phil's family!  I'm starting to feel more comfortable around Phil's family and it's easy to talk to everyone and spend time with them.  Everyone kept apologizing for the weather, though; it was pouring rain all day, which is very rare for an Aussie Christmas.  I told everyone I was fine with it- while I had been looking forward to saying that I got to go swimming on Christmas, I was also used to it being cold and wet on Christmas Day.  After dinner, we played Secret Santa, and I ended up winning a cocktail mixer, which I was pretty pleased with ;)

Then we went home, and I called my cousins, Ann and Dorothy, and chatted with them for a bit, which was nice.  Phil and I ended the night watching Elf :)  All in all, it was a really great Christmas.  I thought it might be hard to be away from my family that day, but I think being able to call my cousins helped.  And I couldn't help but be happy that Phil and I were finally spending Christmas together, instead of being on separate continents.

Phil and I checking out the fireworks on New Years Eve!

Of course, last week was New Years Eve!  Phil had to work during the day, but after he got off work, we met up in the city to watch the fireworks together.  There was over 2 million people in downtown Sydney that night.  All of the streets were closed, and I told Phil that it felt like I was in a disaster movie or something, because people were running around screaming on empty streets and cops were on horses...it was just weird and something I'd never experienced before.  We ended up going across the Harbour Bridge and to a smaller park right beneath it where we had the perfect view of the Opera House and the harbour.  When the fireworks went off, we were right beneath them and it was absolutely amazing.  I mean, I'm not even the kind of person that gets super impressed by fireworks, but these ones were truly spectacular   Especially from where we were standing!

Getting home took quite some time, though.  There were so many people trying to crowd onto the trains and once we got back to our suburb, there weren't any taxis around.  We didn't get home until 3:30 in the morning, but we both had New Years Day off, so we just spent the day lounging in bed and watching movies, and then we had pizza for dinner :)

Check out the Fireworks!  Amazing! :)

Unfortunately, that'll probably be the last slice of pizza I have for a while.  I'm back on the diet I lost weight on last year; since I've been here, I've gained about ten pounds (ughhhhh) so one of my resolutions is to lose the weight I've gained as well as the rest of the weight I was planning to lose in the first place.

Last year I made quite an ambitious resolution list on Facebook, and I'm proud to say that I did achieve almost all of my goals!  This year, I'm not going to make a list, because I feel like the things I need to do are pretty clear, and something I think about quite often.

I need to keep saving money for my Visa.  Thanks to working so much, I've already saved over $2000 just on my own, and Phil has been putting money into our savings account too :)  I also would like to figure out what I'm going to do with my life now that I'm here.  I'd like to go back to school, so I'm going to figure out the best way to do that in Sydney, and what I'll need to do to transfer my credits and all that jazz.  Phil and I are planning to move to an apartment closer to the city, so that's our main goal.  And we also want to go to Reno/Sacramento for a visit this year :)

I think 2013 will be a great year for us, and for me, personally.  I'm definitely feeling more like myself again.   After I posted my last blog, my friend, Jessica Levity, said something that really struck me- to find a "purpose" for my loneliness- which I've really focused on doing since then.  I think being back on my diet and going out for exercise every day will help.  I've also just realized that there's no point in sitting at home every day because I don't have friends yet.  I've ventured out on my own more in the past week than I have since I've been here.  I went and saw a movie alone today.  I've gone out shopping, and swimming, and have basically told myself that I don't need other people to stay entertained.

It is weird, not to have a group of friends or people to hang out with (other than Phil, of course); anyone that knows me knows that I'm such a social person and I've always had friends in my life.  I'm making it my resolution to put myself out there and meet more people as well, so hopefully I won't still be going to the movies alone in a few months.  But for now, I'm just trying to embrace these days that I'm alone and enjoy quality time with myself.  It's been oddly therapeutic  and I think, part of the reason I'm in a better place now than I've been the past few months.

I'm looking forward to whatever the new year brings, be it an extended visa, a clearer plan for my future, new friends, a visit back home, or an engagement ring ;)   No matter what happens, I still plan to share it all here :)  Thanks to everyone who helped make 2012 a memorable year for me...here's to 2013 being even better! <3