We Love Our New Place!

What a week! There has been a lot going on. For one thing, we are all moved into our new place! We got the keys last Tuesday, and then we made several trips between Al's parents' home and the apartment. Luckily, they're not far apart. 

I took the day off on Wednesday and started to sort through this mess. 

Doesn't it remind you of right before we moved out of our last apartment?

Well, as I said in the title, we love our new place. It has a bay window that looks out into the gardens across the street. It doesn't look that blurry in real life. 

It has a garden in our little front courtyard. It looks bare now, but we already have some new plants to put in it. 

The front gate and courtyard are perfect. We can easily fit a small table and two chairs. It will be great to be able to eat breakfast in the fresh air. 

Once we clear all this stuff off, we'll have a lot of cooking space. 

We also have a back courtyard with some berry plants.

The two bedrooms in the back open up into this other private courtyard. It's not very big, but we'll be able to at least hang up our laundry there. 

The last tenants left this phone in the cabinet. While I don't think we'll ever  use it, I am proud to temporarily own one.

Since moving in, we bought a little garden companion. He has a chip on his right foot (the one covered by the dirt), so we named him Chippity Hippity. 

Here are some other random tidbits from the week (since I've been gone for an inexcusably long time):

I learned that our friend (or his friends- it's hard to tell) hangs out in the trees across the street.

I learned that I really like quinoa. I cooked it for the first time last week, and I think it's actually fun to eat (not to mention healthy).

Finally, I learned that bachelorette parties (or hen's nights, as they say in Aussie Land) are very fun. I won't explain the photo below, but I will tell you that I wasn't getting arrested. 

One of my coworkers, Nikki, is getting married next month. She had her hen's night on Friday and a tamer party on Sunday afternoon. 

On Sunday, we  had a competition to see who could make the best wedding dress out of toilet paper. I was the model, and we came in second place! They made a Grecian one-shoulder dress with a very long train in the back. When I held up my 'bouquet', I apparently looked like the Statue of Liberty. Anyway, I think they did a great job. I might hire the girls from my group to make me a wedding dress. Thoughts?

I also found out while I was eating lunch today that there was a horrific earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. People were literally crushed in their office buildings as floors in the downtown area pancaked on top of each other. They actually had a more powerful earthquake last year, but this one has done far more damage. Last year, it was very early in the morning while most people were still asleep. This time, people were working and out on the streets. There are already 65 reported deaths. It's another terrible blow for this part of the world.