It's Been A While...

no rain this time!
Chrissy and Laura tubing!
i actually didn't make this black and white, it just came out this way
My tattoo! (It's upside down in this picture. The bottom of the cross is closest to my pinky toe). This is a little information about The Southern Cross: The Southern Cross is the best known and most represented star group in the Southern Hemisphere. The group's distinctive shape is easily located because of its brightness and close proximity to each other. It can be seen all year round from almost anywhere in the Australia. The constellation is not visible in the northern hemisphere. It is also on the Australian flag.

So believe it or not, I actually have been kind of busy lately and haven't made time to sit down and update this silly thing. It's hard when I feel like no one reads it except Laura (who happens to experience everything I write about).

Last week was a pretty dull week because we didn't go on any adventures and Laura and I decided to go on a diet. It was the Mayo Clinic Diet, or the "Grapefruit Diet." We all have felt really disgusting and haven't been eating very well here, so we agreed we needed something to help us out. I have done this particular diet before, so I know it works. Unfortunately, you are not allowed alcohol on it (or carbs, or sugar). I held out longer than Laura, but not the whole 12 days we were supposed to. By the time the weekend rolled around I just couldn't turn down any more free alcohol. Of course, once the alcohol started flowing, I was talked into eat Mcdonalds AND ice cream (Magnum white chocolate bars- seriously the best ice cream I've ever had) and the diet went out the window. While I am not on the strict, strict diet anymore, I am still making a serious effort to eat better now. Living with new people got me into habits I was not used to and it got me frustrated. Laura loves carbs and fast food, and Chrissy loves sweets. I actually do not like very many sweets OR fast food, but have been eating them here more than ever. I actually began to crave dessert which I never have before. I'm going to the store later tonight and I'm going to make an effort to buy fruit so that when I crave something sweet, it is also something healthy. Let's hope I can avoid the temptation from now on!

One VERY interesting thing did happen last week... I GOT A TATTOO!! I have no idea how many people read this thing or how many of you have facebook, so this might not be news to most people (plus if you know my dad I'm pretty sure he told everyone he knows). PLEASE do not comment on this post about what a mistake I made or how stupid this was. This is on my body FOREVER, so I can't take it back. And I don't want to for that matter. I am VERY happy with it, I love the design and it isn't something I did on impulse. I thought long and hard about this before doing it- trust me. For some reason I wasn't scared to show my parents (probably the oceans separating us) but I am terrified to hear Mimi's reaction. No one tell me what she had to say.

We got to spend another lovely weekend in Waratah. Since making more and more friends from the area we have learned Waratah is kind of a ghetto in Newcastle. That kind of sucks, but we don't plan on spending more time than we have to here anyways. We went out on Thursday night (Laura and I didn't drink) to a bar in Hamilton called The Kent. It was an experience to say the least. Definetely not a crowd I have ever seen here before. Laura and I only lasted a few hours before calling a friend to give us a lift home. We ran into Rosey and Kris (friends from the boating experience) there, so Chrissy and Caroline hung around to have fun with them.

Saturday we got a call from one of the boys who told us they were coming to get us to go boating in 15 minutes. We are all still sleeping when the call came through. It was a mad rush, but we made it and spent another wonderful afternoon drinking Moet, tanning, and tubing. There was a cookout at Bar Beach at a friend from Clemson's house, but none of us managed to make it there. Laura and I got back here, talked our roomate into taking us to McDonalds, and passed out. I'm a little sad I missed the cookout ("barbie"), but there will be more.

Sunday started the same way: a call from the boys (at noon, while sleeping) saying they were coming to get us in 15 minutes and to be ready to go. Again, we got ready in record time and headed out. Since it was Sunday and we all had work to do later in the night, we took it easy as far as drinking goes. I haven't gone tubing since our first time out on the boat when Chrissy bit me and I decided to give it another go. Maybe I was too drunk to care or remember last time, but I got my ass kicked out there this time. Laura and I each rode on separate tubes in a "competition" for who could stay on longer. After our first run Larua fell off, but she never lost again. The last time I fell off I literally didn't have enough strength to get back onto the tube so I called it quits. Laura who is self proclaimed "really athletic" stayed on for most of the day. She probably rode on that tube 200 times in the last 2 days. Not to worry, she has plenty of battle wounds to show for her hard work.

All in all, it was yet another amazing weekend spent here in Newcastle. We were hoping to get out of here next weekend, but haven't managed to find a flight cheap enough yet. First we were going to head to Melbourne to stay with a friend of mine from high school, but we never booked the flights when they were around $150 round trip, so we missed out on that. Spring break, or "Easter Holiday" since it isn't really spring here, starts next week and we have big plans. Until they are finalized I don't want to give away too many details, but they are definetely crazy plans.