Gratitude

I've started a Gratitude picture project that I want to share with you. I simply take a picture of some thing, person or event for which I am thankful that day.  Here's the first one I did:

And here's one from today:

"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice."

-Meister Eckhart

Footy Fever

Growing up, I was a big sports fan. I  loved playing sports and watching sports with my Dad on tv. Over the last few years, though, my interest in sports has declined. It probably has much to do with the fact that, with the exception of a tennis match against Jason every once in a while, I no longer participate in sports. Also, we haven't had tv in a while, and I'm not around my Dad, who is a huge sports fan. And Jason, well, he's never really been a sports fan. BUT, let me tell you...we love us some Footy!! Australian Rules Football, aka Footy, is maybe the coolest sport ever. These guys are fierce athletes playing a tough sport. It's fast paced and way more exciting than the NFL in my opinion. I just can't help but have a tremendous amount of respect for how tough these guys are; they knock the crap out of each other with no pads on! We saw a guy get his front tooth knocked out and he just kept right on playing. And they're in killer good shape cause they run up and down this Enormous field for 80 minutes. We got the chance to go to a game, and it did not disappoint. The feeling in the air was electric! A little boy in front of us cried when his team lost. Australians really love their Footy. It seems you have to have a team and be very loyal to it.  We decided our team was going to be St. Kilda since that was one of the teams playing in the game we went to. Not only did they win that game, but come Saturday night, they will be competing in the Grand Final for the Championship!! It's a big deal around here, they have activities all week at Federation Square and even have a parade on Saturday. I'm kinda wondering what everyone's going to do when it's over. 


GO SAINTS!


If you can overlook the cheesy song (or turn down your speakers) watch this video with some classic footy moments and see what I mean about the awesomeness of this sport:
  

Fitzroy & Treasury Gardens

G'Day All! Here is a slideshow of some pictures I took in late August at a couple of nearby Gardens. The music is Anne Akiko Meyers & Li Jian playing Satoh: Birds in Warped Time 2

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A Word About Vegemite

I love the kid who made this:

Guess Jason and I are not "normal guys."  Vegemite not only looks disgusting, the taste is also fairly disgusting. We were very eager to try it since it was one of the few things we actually knew about Australia before coming here. We learned this, by the way, from the song Down Under. You know,  "He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich." Yeah, we did a lot of research. Anyway, so we tried it our first week here. As I spread the black pastiness over the bread, the words tar on toast came to mind. It tastes very salty and the flavor is hmmm, well it's concentrated yeast extract, so I guess it pretty much tastes like how you think concentrated yeast extract would taste. Apparently, Kraft (who makes Vegemite) has recently come out with a new vegemite. The slogan is, "It's Vegemite, But Different." Nice one, Kraft. How long did it take you to come up with that? They had a contest for consumers to give it a new name, so as to distinguish it from the original, which will be revealed next week. Apparently, their marketing department sucks so bad that they have to come up with schemes to get Joe Blo to do their work for them. Those Krafty bastards.  I'm skeptical, but maybe, in the spirit of the Australian's notion of giving everything "a fair go," we'll give it a try. Anyway, just wanted to let all you Americans know that, at least in mine and Jason's opinion, you're not missing out on anything.

Healesville Sanctuary

Yesterday, Jason and I journeyed by train and two buses to the gorgeous Yarra Valley to see some iconic Australian animals at the Healesville Sanctuary. We saw dingoes, kangaroos, koalas, kookaburras, tasmanian devils, wallabies, and more! It was awesome and felt so good to be in the midst of such beautiful creatures. Here are some pics from the day set to Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. (The last one is for you, Abe.)

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Not Cho' Pizza

I love pizza. If it were not unhealthy and expensive to do so, I would eat it everyday. (Which is why I eat it every other day.) Thankfully, and probably due at least in part to the fact that Italian Australians are one of the largest ethnic groups in Australia, there is no shortage of good pizza in Melbourne, though you have to know where to go. Not all pizzas are created equally. Apparently, a traditional Australian pizza has egg and bacon on it, but we haven't tried it. However, Jason and I have recently discovered the most genius pizza ever. It's brilliant for us because it brings together beautifully two of our favorite things: pizza and mexican food. It's not cho ordinary pizza, but then again, they don't offer many ordinary pizzas at Mojo's Weird Pizza, hence the name. I've had other mexican pizzas before, but none this good. So, they call it the Gringo, and with a salsa base, corn chips, cheese, spanish onion, fresh tomato, jalapenos, cream cheese, topped with sour cream and guacamole, it's basically nachos on pizza. And no, it clearly isn't the healthiest of meals, but who cares, just look at this deliciousness:

Anyway, kind of a random post, I know, but what can I say, I get excited about good food.

streets are my favorite galleries

Warning: If you're not all that interested in street art, then the following slideshow is not for you because that's what most of the pics are of. One of my favorite things about Melbourne so far is the abundance of amazing street art in the laneways. All of the graffiti pics in this show were taken in this great little alleyway called Hosier Lane, about 20 seconds from our apartment.

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