It might just be a pandemic...

Pandemic... existing in the form of a widespread epidemic that affects people in many different countries.

Hold onto your seats girls and boys, forget about bird flu, there is something far more serious hitting our shores.

Over the last few months I've received phone calls, emails, whispers from friends that yet another acquantance has been affected... yes, I'm sure you've all seen evidence of it as well - it's babies...

A few years ago all you would see in the paper is articles warning us that the birth rate in Australia was dropping so much that our population wasn't sustaining itself. Well, I saw an article last week that said this was no longer an issue - us 'Aussies' have turned this around!

I love babies, I think they are really cute, etc, but the fact that so many people I know are having babies makes me a little bit sad really.

I've realised that people are onto my plan, I worked out that the only way I'll ever be able to get a good 10 years off work is to have babies, and bang all around me other people are taking advantage of this great idea.

I would like to say congrats to everyone out there who is pregant, it's really fantastic, just don't make me too jealous with the 'I've never been so happy in my life' comments, or I'll start making the 'man, I'm so glad I can drink cocktails on the beach in the sun' comments back!

Backpacks!

We bought backpacks on the weekend, I just wanted to share. They are so exciting, we got the same brand but Bevan's is bigger than mine. This way I can pack all my stuff into his bigger pack which he can carry and he can pack lightly into my pack which I'll then carry.

Only kidding, the packs are huge, I don't know how we would manage to fill them, especially since we are planning to spend about 99% of our time in Thailand in our togs or shorts and a t-shirt.

Anyway, it is very exciting to get a pack, I've been playing with mine heaps, opening it up, playing with all the little compartments it has, and thinking about all the cool little travel bits and pieces I can now buy to go into all those compartments.

Mine isn't that colour shown, it's black and dark green, whereas Bevan's is all black. When we were taking them home on the train on the weekend we knocked some people with them so I think that might take some getting used too... bit frightened about packed Thai markets...

Anyway, now all we have to do is wait until it's time to travel.... hurry up Christmas!

Home

We tried to buy a house last weekend, it was all very rushed and we were very excited and thought it would all work out... The process began on a normal Tuesday evening when I was idly flicking though the local paper - we are planning on buying a house once we have our deposit so we look occasionally to get an idea of the market. Anyway, suddenly I saw this place that looked pretty cool, plus the price tag was fairly achievable for us - we got excited. During the next few days we organised to meet with a mortgage broker who agreed to lend us stupid amounts of money, organised a cheque book, viewed the property a few different times, reviewed the contract and discussed auction strategy.

Saturday morning came and we set off to the auction, with a serious thought that within the next couple of hours we would be serious adults with a house (well apartment). The auction began... and bang it went well above the amount we were prepared to pay or could afford to borrow, that was sad. But then the price just kept increasing and increasing, and in the end we just felt a little sorry for the people who bought it, yeah they got a great place, but it needed a lot of work, and they had spent a huge amount of money already.

Anyway, we didn't get the place, so we've decided to take a step back and keep saving till we get back from Thailand then we can buy, but the bestest thing that came out of it is that we now have a cheque book, we haven't written any cheques yet, but we would really like to, and we are really awaiting the opportunity - I've never had a cheque book before, it's like free money! YAY!

Bridesmaid Dress

I'm not sure if I've blogged about one of the most exciting things that is happening in my life, my bestest buddy is getting married. It is all very exciting and it's been super lovely to be involved in some of the wedding preperations. Also, Nic has not displayed any signs of being a bridezilla and to be totally honest we're having such a lovely time.

We went to a bridal show a few months ago and everything was so funny that we couldn't stop ourselves from laughing during the fashion parade, so much so that old ladies frowned at us, like we were at a funeral or something. It is pretty serious to see people looking at ideas for what is meant to be one of the most special days of their lives with glum faces - how depressing!

Anyway, I wanted to come out and say a big hats off to Nic, who has remained cool, calm and collected so far, but most of all has been having a lot of fun! I also need to say a big thanks as we bought the bridesmaid dresses on the weekend and they are just beautiful! Thanks Nic!

I must say I'm really looking forward to the next few months of planning!