My Horror

Well happy Halloween everyone. I hope you were treated well and only tricked, into CANDY!

My All New and Improved

Well after Five long years of dots I have decided to change the layout of the old blog here. Change is a hard and daunting thing sometimes especially when you are changing something that has always been the same. I was so sick of the same old website but I didn't want to change what I had started all those years ago. Now that the change is here I realized I should have done it a long time ago and that change is the best thing possible. Move on and move forward people. In the next few months my whole life is going to change so why would I really dwell on something this minor. Still ironing out the kinks but let me know what you think?

My Plans to Plan

Recently Domi and I have been very unexciting people. We have been busy being hermits and planning the rest of our trip/wedding/honeymoon. I have to say it has been fun though. We have booked nearly everything that we can for our trip and had some great fun doing it. The newest bookings we have made are our Disneyland tickets, which Domi was more excited than a little kid about and also we booked tickets to a American Ice Hockey game in Washington.

We have also been trying to save money but have been very unsuccessful in the last couple of weeks due to the fact that we have found so many cheap places to have dinner. Last week we ate out 5 out of the 7 nights. We have found $10 Schnitzel nights, $10 salt and pepper squid nights, cheap tea night at IKEA, lol, and also a couple of other restaurants which seem to want to cook for us cheaper than we can buy the food from the grocery store. It is really a tough life we lead.

Bye now.

My Computer Hatred

This last month has been hell for me for one reason only. My computer shit its self and decided to die. Painful, is all I can say. There is nothing that annoys me more in this word than trying to fix a computer. Somehow we got a virus and that lead to not being able to even get the thing to turn on. So yes it has been a struggle but I think its back to normal. Hopefully otherwise I am going to throw it at something.

Today though is very exciting because today is the last day in my lifetime that I will be 24. Tomorrow friends I will be older by just a little bit and I will turn 25. I completely and utterly cant believe I have hit this point in my life. I feel like I have been very lucky in friendships, love and in life in general and in last 24 years. I hope things continue in this fashion and even though the last 24 years have definitely not been easy, they have been enjoyable and I think that's the only wish I have for the next 24. So heres to getting older people and enjoying life!!

Byes

My Time Limit

I get the feeling lately that I have been burning the candle at both ends. Everything has been crazy. It all started with work. Now for those of you who don't know, work is a huge part of my life and lately it has been ruling my life. My parents have started building a new house for themselves so we have been working on that as well as trying to get all of our other work done as well. Now normally work slows down a little in Winter but this year things have sped up and with the extra house to be built its been almost too much work.

The highlights of the last few weeks have been booking our flights over to America and finally booking most of our trip. Domi and I really can't wait. It is still 5 months away but god I can't wait to get on that plane at Adelaide airport and to jetset away on our holiday/honeymoon. I have also spent time with good friends lately. People that understand me and how I am at the moment. Sometimes its hard when I am stuffed from work but still stressing about the next day to make conversation and be enthusiastic but its easy with some.

Well just another quick post because I am going to bed. Have fun people and now pictures!

 

This is a photo of the crane loading concrete panels onto our truck. It is 8 tonne of concrete 10 meters above a 2 million dollar crane. 

 This is stage one of putting up the panels. We still have 25 left to lift!!!

This just made me laugh. Gravy??? Really???

My Monday Morning Tunes

Here are some songs to start your working week off with.
First up is 360 featuring Pez and "Just Got Started". Its a banger!



To keep it rolling here is 360 featuring Josh Pyke and "Throw It Away".



And last but in no way least is Gotye's new one "Somebody That I Used to Know". Love it.

My Twitter Post

There is nothing funnier in this world than watching a cat, play with a ping pong ball, in a bath tub...

My Well of a Time

The last couple of weeks have been pretty hectic at work and if you haven't noticed by now, work is a huge part of my life. The weekend was different. It was very relaxed. Domi and I caught up with my parents Friday night to talk trip plans and organize things for the wedding. We went all out and had toasted sandwiches and it was just nice. The weekend was really family based actually and Saturday night we went out to Magill to see Domi's mum and her new boyfriend. Its really great that she has finally found someone and they are really good together.

The rest of the weekend was, well, I'm not going to lie, spent playing video games with Domi. It was good though and I think we both needed it.

This week again has been full on already. At the moment I'm working on a job putting stormwater pipes and sumps in for a new building at the Morphetteville race course. I have been there for a bit over a week now and it has rained every day. Now rain after finishing would be no dramas but while you are trying to connect down pipes and different old connections makes life a pain in the ass. The pipes we are putting in are 450mm so when it rains there is a lot of water... Everywhere. It hasn't been too bad a job really and I am working for another company so I turn up in the morning and if it has all turned to shit over night I just dig it all out again and away we go. One surprise is what we have found in the ground. We have found all the usual things like gas pipes, water pipes, fire services, fibre optic cables and power cables. We even found some odd things like old rubbish and horse shoes but I was pretty blown away when we found an old well!?! Definitely what I was expecting to scratch my excavator bucket over.

Bye now.

My Addiction

I have recently realized that I have a huge addiction to coffee and all things caffeine. Now I know I'm not exactly standing in front of a group of people saying "Hi, my name is Phil, and I listen to hair metal and am a Meth addict" but hey give me some credit for outing it. Now I have always loved a coffee, especially in the morning but lately I think I have taken it a bit to far with energy drinks. I seemed to get sucked in at the service station or shop and buy two instead of one due to the cheap price but always end up drinking both instead of just the one. I guess its a better addiction than some but I am still weary. I had the thought about participating in dry July but instead of not drinking alcohol I thought of giving up coffee/caffeine but to be honest I don't know if I could. The giving up alcohol would be a piece of cake. I don't really drink that much. Sometimes on the weekend but hardly during the week at all so I think I will just forget I ever thought about the caffeine thing and do that.

Just a Thought

Firstly...
I Love being so in love with you and I love that cheeky smile you gave me.
I Love that after really meeting him I know what you see and that he is right for you.
I Love that you changed your whole life for someone and now it has made you happier than I have ever seen you.
I Love that today you did but Hate that tomorrow you wont.
I HATE that when you walked through our door I could see the depression on your face and I am so sorry that your life isn't going to plan.
I hate that we haven't seen each other in a while but Love that there are going to be so many stories at dinner tomorrow night.
I LOVE that you are in a new relationship with our old friend and I Love that smile you have on your face.
I Love that a simple question has reminded us how long we have been friends.
I do Love your friendship and I promise we will be over to see you soon.

I Love that one day, one of you, some of you, might actually read this.

My Wordless Monday

My Lemon Weekend

This weekend has been bliss. I was destroyed from the week of work and fell asleep early Friday night after having an absolutely amazing roast dinner that Domi cooked. After working a lot of weekends lately having two days off is awesome. It feels like a little holiday.

Saturday was spent doing some intense gardening. I joke, I joke. There is nothing intense about gardening but you just don't see those to words together very often. I pruned and weeded the gardens and it was just good. It was nice to be able to just do random things I wanted to do outside with out having to fly around and do it all quickly like a normally do. Our lemon tree has been fruting like a crazy tree so I decided to start picking late Saturday afternoon. After filling two giant bags I got sick of it and stopped. I probably only picked half the lemons and when I weighed the bags there was 23 KGS of lemons in total. That's a shit load of citrus mate. So now we have to work out what to do with all these lemons.

Today was another lazy day really. Domi and I went down to Marion shopping centre to wizz around and get some clothes. I really do hate shopping so I was in and out of there. Got a couple new shirts, a couple of jackets and things like that in preparation for our trip to the USA next year. It will be weird leaving boiling hot Australia with a suitcase full of jackets and jumpers.

I think this week will be a bit of a catch up week. Due to working a lot and the wheather being average Domi and I haven't seen a lot of our friends so I think this week we will try and see some people we haven't seen in a while. Its a hard time of year with the days being so short. Its hard to do anything when its dark at 6pm. I do like the cold but I am starting to get sick of winter. Bring on the warmer months and the longer days mother nature.



Byes

My New Beat

Well its been a slow couple of weeks now. A lot of tiring work and not a lot of anything else. To get by I have found some awesome new tunes. Here they are so check them out.

This is the new song by Boy and Bear, Its called Feeding Line. It has a very Mumford and Sons sound to it. A great song!

Something a little different in this one. Its Diafrix with Simple Man. Its just a really catchy tune.

Last but definitely not least is Close Your Eyes with Song For The Broken. Some thing a bit heavier and a bit more up beat to end on. Get on it!

Got a pretty busy weekend coming up. Emma and Brad are up for dinner tomorrow night before heading out to see the Lost Show play their last gig as a six piece band. Not to sure about Saturday day or night but since I'm not working I think I might just do nothing for a bit. Should be good. Hit me up if you are in Adelaide town! Byes

My Headspace

Lately I have had a lot on my mind. Now when I say that I don't mean a lot of things are troubling me or anything like that, I have just been busy. I have been thinking about a million and one things. Whether it be things to do with work or things to do with life or things to do with our trip. I have just been thinking and thinking and thinking and to be honest my brain isn't working. I think I need this holiday. To bad its still 8 months away.

The last week was a pretty boring one. It really has started to be wintery outside and as always when the weather turns to shit it makes you want to do less and less. Plus after working in rain, wind and cold all day the last thing you want to do is have a shower, get all warm and then go back out in it again. So last week was a pretty quiet one. We were meant to go and see The Lost Show play Saturday night in town but I had a really early start and a half day of work turned into a really tough full day and after the week I had I just couldn't drag my self out of the house and was in bed asleep by 9PM. Its an exciting life, I know.

Apart from work madness its been all go on our trip planning front. Domi and I have been planning our wedding and honeymoon for a while now but it is really coming along. We have booked our flights to, and accommodation in New York, DC, Philadelphia and LA and have pretty much worked out what we are going to do in each city. We still have a bit to do for San Fransisco and Las Vegas but most of our time there will be taken up by friends, family and the wedding. If you have been to any of these cities, please please tell me what is a must see and what isn't worth it because we really want to get the most out of our trip.

Well that's it. Bye now.

My Question Time, Take Two

Well I don't know what happened but Google and Blogger seemed to have died over night. All the comments have disappeared so I'm really sorry to those people who left comments and questions and to those of you who couldn't comment. Lets try it again though. Any questions or anything you want to say? Do it.

My Question Time

Alright this is a bit of a long shot but I'm going to go ahead with it. Lately I have noticed a lot of new readers on here and I have to say that it is awesome. I'm so happy people read this, and I'm surprised people come back or choose to follow. I have to say though I write on here for me and not to please anyone else. This is important to me because one day I would love to get all these ramblings made into a book that almost details my younger years in a way. Anyway I'm rambling more than I should.

Todays post is a question post. I would love it if anyone and everyone asked me a question. If you know me it can be something to do with our lives or on the other hand if you don't know me it can be something as boring as my favourite soft drink. But don't ask that because its cherry cola and that is a chain email question from the myspace days. So thats it really. The best question will win an awesome prize.
(Prize may not be awesome or real, depending on your interpretation of prize, awesome or real)  

Anyway ask away people!

My Uplifting

Well its been a while now hasn't it. It seems like a billion things have happened and the whole world has changed again.

Lets go way way back and talk about Easter. All I can say is that I drank and ate enough beer and food to feed half of the Pacific Islands for a week. Its pretty much what our long weekend was based around. We kicked it off Friday night with a few close friends up at our place. For some reason at 6:15PM we decided to have shots. The night was messy. We drank a couple bottles of spirits between three or four of us and for no other reason than we just did. God I felt it the next day though. Domi woke pretty early but I couldn't even get out of bed. I rested my weary head for another few hours and then felt pretty good for some strange reason. We cleaned up the house and then spent the rest of the day on the couch watching NCIS on DVD. Easter Sunday we drove down to see my family at our family farm where my mother had waffles and a lavish breakfast waiting for us. We wolfed them down and then a short while later we had lunch. Lunch consisted of meat. All sorts of marinated chicken and some steaks. We wolfed that down to. After those light meals we then wolfed down cake and chocolate. I felt sick to say the least.

We had no time to rest though because there was more drinking and eating to be done on Hindmarsh Island at Emma's parents shack. It was a picture perfect night so we sat out under the stars and ate more food and you guessed it drank more alcohol. After a game of kings where Emma and Brad drank a full glass consisting of half red wine, half beer, we retired to bed.

We saw the sights of Goolwa the next day and then headed back into town to let our stomachs contract and our livers de-marinate but received a text that more eating and drinking needed to be done so it was back out again. We met up with Nicole and Calvin (two culprits from Friday night) as well as Adam and had tea at our old stomping ground, the Kentish. A small amount of shenanigans occurred at the bar and then later at Adams house but after such a huge weekend we were all partied out and it was time to get back into the swing of work.

It was almost bizarre being back at work after having so long off. The week, even though only three days seemed to last forever except for Wednesday night. Wednesday night was bliss. Domi and our celebrated our five year anniversary by having a beautiful home cooked meal and some amazing wines. Domi cooked an entree of bruschetta followed by fillet mignons with garlic sauce, asparagus, roast potatoes and stuffed red capsicums. It was absolutely amazing. Easily the best meal I have ever eaten outside a resturaunt. After such a full on weekend it was so amazing to just be able to relax and spend some time with her. The incredible meal was a bonus too.

Apart from all that craziness my world has been pretty much same old same old. Work has been a bit crazy. We lifted some of the concrete panels that we have been pouring and moved them off of our casting bed so its on to the next round of pours. The panels we lifted were lift shaft panels so they looked odd because of all the doorways they had in them. Bah.

Anywho I'm off to watch some TV before an early night. Bye now.

My Fifth Year Of Happiness

Today, five years ago, Domi and I started our relationship. It has been an incredible five years with many highs and lows, with many of the lows outside of our control, but they have been the best five years of my life. We have accomplished so much together and I am so incredibly lucky to have her. I honestly can't believe it has been five years, it only seems like yesterday that we were both living at our parents places driving across town to see each other at night. I think we both knew from the start that our relationship was serious and I cant wait for next year when I get to call her my wife. Happy anniversary my angel. You always have been and always will be, the love of my life.

My Pizza Feast

Last night on a spur of the moment decision, Domi and I decided to make pizza's for tea. We used to make them all the time when we first moved into our place but haven't for what seems like forever. Damn they were good to. After making all the dough and everything, over eating like crazy and washing up, both Domi and I were in bed by 9PM. Haha, god we live a life of excitement.

At work we have been pouring tilt up concrete panels. Its basically where you pour concrete slabs in a pile and then tilt them up and use them for walls. Its no a bad job but its ridiculously tough on your body because it is a lot of work at awkward angles. So far we have poured three and only have about 20 to go... Blah.

Also here is a photo of some tight parking I did the other day in the truck. I had to back down the driveway of a house and even though you cant see it in the photo, the back of the tray of the truck is actually touching the brick wall of the house. A very tight spot.

Bye now.

My lazy Sunday

Right now I am doing just about my favorite thing to do on a Sunday. I'm sitting at home in front of our fire, eating cookies and drinking coffee, while watching the Formula One race in shanghai. It's turning out to be an amazing race with many different strategies mixing cars and teams up. I know it's a bit bogan but nothing beats watching motor sport on a Sunday.

We had a really great day yesterday down at Mclaren Vale for Susi's birthday. We drank wine and ate cheese out in the beautiful sunshine and it really made us realize how good life is. We left the Vale and headed back to Susi's for pizza and more booze. Even though I didn't drink that much last night and my head was very clear this morning it's still great to have a lazy Sunday. Hope you enjoy yours.

My Time Travel

Sometimes I forget about this blog. I do. Its almost as if I travel forward in time and then all of a sudden I haven't written in here for weeks. It has actually been a full on couple of weeks. Work has been good then shit and then good and a bit shit but life has been awesome.  In the last few weeks we have seen some great live music, spent some awesome nights with good friends and also footy season is back so that's in the mix too.

After all this time I don't have that much to say which is odd but oh well. I have been enjoying myself lately because I have discovered a whole heap of new bands. There is nothing better than finding a new band to listen to after you have felt bored with your music collection. Here is a song. Enjoy

My Race Weekend

The weekend started early last week because instead of working Friday we went to watch the motor racing at the Clipsal 500. The week seemed to fly past and Friday was upon us before we knew it. Our race day started early with Domi and I meeting up with my parents as well as a big group of people we know and work with for breakfast at a little Cafe on Frome road. It is what we do every year and its always a good start to what is normally a long day.

By 9am we were in our favourite track position getting set up for the day. Nearly every year we sit in a little elevated spot on turn 7, which is one of the best spots on the track. It was perfect weather for watching every form of car go past, so that's exactly what we did. Don't believe me, check the photos.

After our relaxing day Friday it was back to work for me and it seems like I barely blinked and the weekend was over. I did nearly 12 hours Saturday and was beyond stuffed Saturday night. Its sad to say but at 24 years old I was asleep on the couch at 8:30pm Saturday night. I only worked half a day on Sunday doing a couple of small jobs and then made it home just in time to see the start of the last leg of the Clipsal 500. It was bliss to just sit on the couch and do nothing. It was also a pretty thrilling race and I was happy because the winner was driving a Holden. Go the Reds!

My 3 Day Olive

Last weekend was a long weekend but I will tell you know it went quicker than any weekend we have had this year. Work was pretty crazy last week so I was amped up for a weekend of activities.

We started the weekend with food. My parents invited us out for dinner to celebrate their wedding anniversary and a group decision was made to head on down to Pantai in the Pier Hotel complex. It incorporates two restaurants Thai/Indian and modern Australian side by side and you can order off either menu. I went for the asian option and ordered a Lamb Madras which was soo soo spicy but incredible all the same. We drank and watched the sun go down and life was good.

Saturday morning started early in preparation of a long day ahead of us. I had told our friend Catrina that we would take her out for her birthday and had decided on touring the Mclaren Vale wine region. We arrived at the first winery at about 10:30 after stopping for coffees in the town of Mclaren Vale. Since it was a bit too early for wine we ate everything to do with olives. We bought olive oil, garlic olives and olive tapenade, which we devoured later that afternoon once home. We took in the sites and then moved from one winery to the next until I was hungry enough and the girls were drunk enough to stop for lunch. We ate at a restaurant called El Torro which is on the main street of Mclaren Vale. We are all Mexican food nuts so thought it was a good choice. The food wasn't overly Mexican, more modern Aussie with a Mexican theme. It was great though and all three of us waddled out of the restaurant as full as can be. After touring three more wineries and popping in at a brewery for me it was time to make the trek home.

We needed a moment to relax before going out that night and contemplated a nap before deciding on food. We ate our weight in dips, olives and bread it was all very sophisticated except we started the feast with cocktail frankfurts!

The night was nothing to hectic, just a group of friends celebrating Helen's moving in. She is back from the UK and has moved in with a good friend of ours. She is British! That is all...


Sunday it was off and racing again as we had to prepare for a wedding. Domi has working with a lady named Tracy for a couple of years at the hospital and Sunday was her wedding day. It was meant to be held at West Beach on the sand but due to the wind they had it in a park. The ceremony was beautiful and quite enjoyable and the weather just held off and only a couple of spots of rain were felt.

The ceremony that night was held at the Grand Hotel in one of their conference rooms and even though I hardly knew anyone there I made friends as usual and after the waitress kept bringing jugs of beer to our table I even had a bit of a dance with Domi (who looked so amazingly beautiful).

Monday was a public holiday and damn I was happy about it. After a weekend of drinking and running around I felt like I needed all week to get over it. This week has been such a blur I don't really know wat I have done and its already the weekend again.

I am going to the Clipsal 500 tomorrow which will be bloody good so expect an update from that. Woo. Happy St. Patties day too. Byes

My Weekend at the Port

This past weekend was actually one of the best Domi and I have had in a long time. Our great friend Jess has recently started dating a professional fisherman from Port Broughton. Now if you don't know where Port Broughton is, Google map it you numpty! So up we drove Friday night though the driving rain until we pulled into the little town of Broughton where the sunset shone through the clouds and we met two great friends. I went to school with Jess' new boyfriend for one year but it was 8 years ago so quite a bit had changed and it was almost as if we should have introduced our selves again.

We had arrived in the town quite late so decided to head straight out to tea. We ate at a small restaurant on the main street where Jess had been working part time while she had been up there and the food was great. The restaurant owner stirred us up about being friends with Andrew and Jess and then we hit the pub. When I say we hit the pub, I mean we hit the pub hard. After a couple of drinks at tea we seemed to be more than in the mood for a couple more. We met half the town and nearly drank the pub dry before somehow getting home to Andrews parents farm.

I blame Jess for the messy night because at 1:30am she came over with 4 Jager bombs! Needless to say we woke up the next day with sore heads and one of the worst hang overs I have had in a long time.

The day started out very slowly out at Andrews parents farm. We had plans to go out fishing early but that never eventuated. We finally drug ourselves away from the couch and walked along the main street of Broughton. After an orange Powerade a a stroll on the jetty we finally made it back to Andrews place to get the boat ready before we hit the water. Our friends Emma and Brad arrived just in time to jump in as we sailed off. The sea air cured our hang overs for a very short time until we stopped moving, and the rocking started. It didn't really bother me until I looked down to bait a fishing hook and then urgh... It hit. Domi and I were very green so we headed back into the harbour to drop some crab nets. We drifted in the calm waters for a couple of hours but didn't catch a lot so cruised back to dry land.

That night we met the rest of Andrews family out at there farm and then cooked up a feast of seafood. I was the odd one out because I don't eat seafood, but the steak I ate was out of this world! We ate like kings and the conversation was great. All in all they are a great family and it was amazing to have a real country gathering/meal. It didn't take long after tea before people started falling asleep and before we knew it, it was Sunday.

We had another feast Sunday morning with bacon, eggs and BBQ'd tomato and mushrooms, before heading out on a guided tour of the property and the surrounding beaches. We also took in the sights at Fishermans bay as well as seeing Andrews other boats and cold storage areas. Before we knew it, it was time to head back to Adelaide and all to soon the weekend was over. I could have stayed a week in Port Broughton and believe me the weekend went all to quickly. If your ever in that part of the state pop in.

Bye now.

A tough year...

I had plans for a big post about the great weekend Domi and I had, but to be honest I don't feel comfortable writing about how happy I am on a day like today. It seems it has been a real tough star to the year. So far in Australia alone we have had devastating bushfires and floods and today Christchurch in New Zealand was hit with it's most deadly earthquake. The vision that has been broadcast has been truly shocking and our hearts go out to all those people who are suffering lose. The world it seems is in turmoil, mother nature is playing havoc and all those people in the middle east are seeing some of the biggest change in a lifetime. Devastated is the only way to describe many regions of the world at the moment.

It's with a heavy heart that I say, by now. I hope tomorrow is a better day for us all.

My New Tunes

You know when you hear a band for the first time and even before the song finishes you can just tell that you will be into them. Some bands you can hear a couple of songs and like one but not the others. Well whens it comes to this band I like them all. I just stumbled across these guys the other day. They are called 'King Cannons' and they are a small band from Melbourne, Australia. They have a ska, rocky sound and its just great music. Here is the single of their debut EP and a live song. Hope you enjoy.

My National Peanut Butter Day

DAMN! I only just found out that last Monday was national peanut butter day. Damn. For those of you who know me I am a huge peanut butter fan and it has to be smooth, none of this crunchy stuff. Can't believe I missed it.

My Oz Day 2011

Every year there is an Australia Day tradition amongst our group of friends. We have a BBQ, chill out in the heat, drink beer and listen to the Triple J Hottest One Hundred. For those of you who don't know Australia Day celebrates the arrival of the First British Fleet in Sydney Cove in 1788, or in laymen's terms, when Australia was started. For those of you who also don't know, the Hottest 100 is a countdown of the top 100 songs from the past year. Its a good day to say the least.

This year the tradition continued at our place. We had about 20 great friends come round. There was food, beer and even Kate and Matt's beautiful baby girl Luella. It was the first time a lot of us had seen there baby so she was a popular person for most of the day. I think it mad a lot of us realise where our lives are going to be heading in the next few years and there was even talk of the next few Oz day parties having to have kiddies areas and activities. A bit daunting but exciting non the less.

The Hottest 100 started at 11:30AM and kicked on until about 8:30PM so it was a long day. It was weird this year because Australia Day fell on a Wednesday which meant everyone had to work the next day. Even with an early night I really didn't want to drag my self out of bed the next day. Work to say the least, was hell.

Bye now.

My Break

Well since Christmas, life has been a little hectic and because I didn't get much of a holiday I guess I kinda forgot about this for a while. A holiday from Blogging I guess you could call it. Well I'm back. Refreshed and A bit eager. I have big plans for this year and big ideas. I think its going to be a good twelve months. A short post to get back into it but also a video. This is a great song, Janelle Monae with Tightrope. Get your gospel on people.