Maybe in Oz

We had our Australian citizenship ceremony a month ago now and I'm just getting around to looking at the pictures.  It was a fun evening that we were honored to share with some friends and family who played a huge role in us wanting to stay. Just before the ceremony I was thinking about why we chose to get citizenship.  There are a few financial reasons it made sense, but really, I think the main reason we wanted to get citizenship was because we could.  Most people only get citizenship once in their lives and they're hardly going to remember it.  It's not common that people get the opportunity to become citizens of another country, especially one as great as this.  So of course we had to. The word "ceremony" made me think of something grand and formal, but it was not quite the case.  It was held at the Narre Warren Community Centre, a basic room with 110 chairs for the new citizens and maybe 40 chairs for those in the audience.  To begin, a bag...

From the Ironman- One day I will train properly for these silly races… This race was put on the schedule as it was the last full Ironman distance in Australia that I had not completed.  I did the 70.3 a few years ago and really enjoyed it, and also we were due for a holiday. I signed up for this race long before all of the drama of the cancellation of IM Melbourne and everyone being reallocated to this race or Port Mac a few weeks ago. Additionally, my parents wanted to come out and see me race again and to see the Great Barrier Reef (while it still exists).  We left the house early on Friday morning for a 9am flight.  It was a damn good thing we did as there was a semi truck fire on the freeway that closed it down during the morning rush hour.  As we sat in the lounge watching the chaos on TV and also watching all the bikes headed over to oversize baggage, the race brain began to kick in. The flight was full of triathletes and there is always a nervous buzz of...

Happy 40th Birthday to my favourite (and only) husband.  40 is a big birthday, it's one of those where you get together with friends and family to celebrate.  Since we're far away from most of them, I gathered pictures from them all so they could still be part of this day. Why Hi Phil?  Phil has a thing for blondes, especially with pony tails.  Whenever we see a hot blonde I tend to whisper to him "Hi Phil" as they swish by.  One day I randomly ended up at a charity lunch where Tenley Molzahn from one of the Bachelor shows was helping.  Phil had a giant crush on her when I forced him to watch the show, so I gave $20 to the charity for a picture of her with a Hi Phil sign.  He couldn't believe it.  And so the Hi Phil began. So Phil, from all your friends and family, happy 40th! The original - Tenley Molzahn Code Red Coworkers Code Red Coworkers Aunt Cheri, Uncle Paul, cousins Lisa and Robbie The coffee girls near work ...