Tara's got a new home...

I've outgrown Blogspot...not in an up-myself kinda way...but in a "I need more features and better analytics that don't make my head hurt" way.

Blogspot was a great introduction to the blogging world, but there are bigger and better things around the corner (I'm sure of it).

So I've moved...you can now follow me at http://taragotblogged.wordpress.com

Please update your RSS feeds or bookmarks...I wouldn't want you to miss a single minute of the fun!

So, somewhere along the line I became a hiker

I think I became a hiker when I was trying to regain my sense of adventure, which has unfortunately been misplaced of late.

And when I say hiker...I haven't actually been on any hikes yet...but I plan to.

My dad arrives tonight and we are heading away to check out the rice terraces and mummies of Northern Luzon. We are even going to do some caving - so of course I needed some new shoes!

They are unattractive and practical and I love them.

But more importantly I love what they represent.

A newfound sense of adventure and willingness to try anything.

I'll be offline until Monday next week (some places don't even have power, let alone WiFi).

Don't miss me too much.

Calling my Australian readers...

Sometime down the track we will move back to Australia (some days we feel like we could be away for forever and some days I cannot wait to get back fast enough), and I don't want to have missed anything.

I'm pretty on top of news thanks to smh.com.au and news.com.au but the one thing I am missing is MUSIC.

So I need your help - what are you listening to at the moment?

What is popular in Australia at the moment...what is being played on the radio over and over again?

Summer is coming to a close - what was your summer soundtrack?

I have pretty diverse music tastes so feel free to suggest anything.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions and help.

xx

Le sigh

It goes without saying that I miss things about home. My family and friends would be at the top of the list...but a very close second is a dishwand, you know one of those brilliant sponges with handles that you put dishwashing detergent in.

Like this:

Oh how I miss my dishwand...in fact I miss it so much that I googled it today to find out that it has a proper name, and that name is a dishwand.

I also miss Crunchies, Marie Claire, Delicious and GladBake. How do I know that I miss these things? Because they are what I asked Reece to bring back for me from his trip home this weekend.

Like anyone, I have days when I feel like its all too hard and I want to run back to Australia. I'm having an extended one of these moments right now, and am craving the comfort of home. My work is what is causing this, and I'm probably not ready yet to treat the subject with enough tact, so I'm going to refrain while I feel like this.

Suffice to say the thing I miss most, right now, is directness. I miss the straightforwardness of adults back home, I definitely miss adults acting like adults.

So anyway, that is my whinge.

When you are away for an extended period of time, what is it that you miss the most? I'd love to hear from anyone who has spent time in a very different culture...how did you handle it?

What's your dirty little secret?

I have many of them...they manifest themselves in many different ways and they all usually come out when I'm left alone.

Singing loud showtunes is one of them. So is plucking out every hair I can possibly find with a pair of tweezers.
Insanely I mutter to myself and occasionally have outright conversations with myself.

When I was a tween (ok probably as late as 14) I used to dress up in my mothers sheets and pretend I was in Rome. I was always a Roman Princess. And insanely fabulous I'm sure.

This afternoon I had my dinner at 4.30pm...and it was pancakes...and it was good. Pancakes are awesome, but pancakes at inappropriate times of the day are even better.

It's not that Reece will deny me pancakes at any time of the day...rather that when you have an audience sometimes your dirty little secrets can be rather shameful.

So fess up...any dirty little secrets you want to share?

Tara's got a brand new set of bangs

So earlier this week I booked in for a trim and regrowth touch up. And then in a fit of whimsy I decided at 3pm this afternoon that I was going in for a big change.

I vascillated between excited and nervous all afternoon...seeking advice from Reece, my mother and then Reece again while I contemplated a life with a blunt fringe.

Then Reece threw me a curve ball..."If you are going for the fringe I think it will look better shorter".

Hmmm...well up until now shorter wasn't really in the equation. But he got me thinking and well, it's nigh impossible to pull me back once you get me started.

So this is the end result...I now have hair that is way too edgy for me, will most probably be hideous when left curly and necessitated the rushed purchase of special equipment to maintain, namely a brush and straightening iron.

Despite the warning signs, I LOVE it. I'm in that phase of new hair when you keep finding shiny surfaces to stare at yourself in. I pout, and then grin, and then pout all over again. Pullling my "perfect" model pout...because really, hair this good deserves a model pout. It probably also deserves a model body but let's not take things too far...

Example A of poorly executed model pout

The funniest part though was my hairdresser Mary. She was a little stunned when I asked for a radical change, particularly cos last time I told her that more than 1cm cut off the ends was simply too much.

What bothered her the most though was that my husband married me with long hair and in her opinion I was moving the goal posts. "But won;t he be so disappointed. Men love long hair, they don't love women with short hair."

Somehow I think Reece will still keep me. Even though I am clearly breaking my marriage covenant.

The noughties

Let me say first up that this is a retrospective...it is going to be a long self indulgent post about the last ten years of my life...so if that kind of thing bothers you then its probably best that you turn away now.

So clearly I am now writing for myself.

On my recent trip back to Australia I caught up with a friend I hadn't seen for ages. It was a great catch up and in the course of the conversation she casually mentioned that this time 10 years ago we were in Germany.

Well that little fact has blown my mind to the point where I haven't stopped mentioning it to people for the past 10 days (sorry Reece). Though it was Reece who said "think of all of the things you have been through in the last 10 years" and got me all serious and sentimental so really it is all his fault.


In the summer of 1999/2000 I travelled to Germany on an exchange program with my school. I was only 15 years old and it was truly a life changing experience. It whetted my appetite for travelling and I think made me a very self reliant person. We were basically treated as adults and were expected to act accordingly (with a few notable exceptions).

Never in a million years when I was traipsing around in the snow in Nuremburg or Munich or Berlin would I have imagined that in 10 years time I would be married and living in a different country!

So here's my snapshot of the last 10 years

Grew up fast
Had knee surgery
Finished high school
Fell in love (mostly unrequited)
Started (but never finished) university
Saw my parents through divorce
Lost my grandmother
Lost my marbles
Lost some weight (put some on as well)
Travelled to crazy foreign lands for 6 months
Gained some amazing friends
Lost a couple along the way as well
Moved out of home...and then moved back home again
Learnt some valuable life lessons
Got up close and personal with depression
Started an amazing career
Fell in love again (this time for good)
Got married
Moved to another crazy foreign land

And somehow found the confidence to be myself along the way.

So sorry for being serious and self indulgent, and if you have made it this far I would love to know what your highlights were for the past 10 years.

Happy New Year to all! xx

It's really all happening!

Wow...what a week! I have finished work for the forseeable future and was so lucky to have a fantastic send off...much better than the last job I left!

It hasn't quite sunk in yet that the last pay check I received yesterday could be my last for some time. It is truly terrifying to me to be relying solely on another person for my upkeep! Luckily it is Reece and he is fabulous and makes everything seem so easy!

I really just feel like I am on holidays at the moment. I think it will hit me when all of our furniture arrives in Manila that I really don't have gainful employment and that I have to find some other way to be an equal in the relationship...I really hope this means that I don't have to do the dishes forever, cos that would really suck.

So I'm sitting here in my dressing gown, scrubbed to within an inch of my skin and waiting for my lovely make-up lady to come and hopefully not turn me orange!

It is my hens tomorrow and amazingly I still don't know what we are doing! I'm really impressed that every single one of my fabulous friends has managed to keep it a secret!

Anyway...just wanted to check in and not let this blog languish while life continues to speed by. I have a fabulous cupcake recipe to post soon...maybe I'll find the strength to do it on Sunday in my hangover haze!