Sweet Life: My Favourite Places

Ooh, so to brighten up my Monday morning ( seeing as my state manager will be at work today and i loathe her, i'll need some cheering up... ) I thought i'd participate in another " Sweet Life " post, brought to you by the lovely Melissa at Suger Coat It. Mel wants to know what makes our life sweet, and this week its all about those places that make, or have made, your life worth living...

1. My mum and dads house
I dont really have any photos of my mum and dads house ( unless you count very badly focused shots from our engagement party - dont know who took them but they arent worth posting ) but aside from my own home, its the number one place i enjoy spending time with my family. Its the kind of house you can just " drop in " to, and you can stay all day if you want to - especially if small toddler-like people are doing your head in and you just want them to tire themselves out by doing laps of the backyard on their tricycles. Plus, my parents are very generous with the snacks and the Pepsi-Max, so it makes for a great atmosphere to relax in and chat. Gotta love my parentals!
2. Taronga Western Plains Zoo playground

So thats not actually the playground ( thats Mick and Flynn with Flynn's favourite animal... ) but i loooooooove the playground out at the zoo. Its a free picnic area with swings and flying fox and jungle gym with slippery dip, and even though you dont have to pay to get in you can still see the monkeys and the lemurs in that area. It has plenty of space for running and isnt anywhere near a road way, so there is no worries about Flynn escaping on me. We've been out there quite a few times in the last month or so, and its become my favourite spot in town for playing...
3. New Jersey, USA

Now go ahead, make whatever " Jersey Shore " jokes you like, but i really enjoyed my time living in NJ ( thats the house i lived in right there ). I lived there for a year and worked as an au pair for a lovely family with 3 boys, and the place holds some beautiful memories for me. I found some self-confidence while i lived abroad, made a few great friends, and had some great adventures in near-by New York City, and returned to Australia with a better sense of who i was and who i wanted to become. If only it didnt snow there, it would be a pretty close to perfect place!
4. Peru, South America

This one makes the list because its my favourite holiday destination so far. I trekked for 4 days through the Andes to Machu Picchu ( which was insane physically, but so worth it ) and fell in love with the mountain city of Cusco. I used what little Spanish i know and marched in a protest ( kind of unknowingly at first... ). I avoided spitting llamas for the most part, fell sick and "magically " got better and kind of had a crush on my tour guide ( who, on the last night, told me i was sexy. Ah, to be there again and have the confidence to run with that comment! ). Anybody looking for a holiday with a bit of old-school adventure to it, i'd definately recommend Peru - just make sure you do the trek to Machu Picchu and dont take the sissy way out and catch the bus!

You Know That Album ? ( The Redux )

So after doing this mornings 30 Days of Music challenge post in which i touched on my love for The Goo Goo Dolls, i was reminded of a post i made waaaaaaaaaaay back when i started this version of my blog. Way back on December 20th 2007 in fact. It was a post about how most of us have one album that we love, or loved at a specific time in our lives. I wanted to share it with you - i had approximately 2 regular readers back then so i figure some of you need to play catch ups, plus i really love this post. Instead of just linking and hoping you'll click over, i'm going to re-post the whole thing...  i hope you enjoy it!

YOU KNOW THAT ALBUM?

You know that album ? The one that you loved all the way through, or the one that reminds you of a certain time in your life or specific event, or the one who's songs kept you company during rough times ? Everyone has one of those albums and, for me, its " Dizzy Up The Girl " by The Goo Goo Dolls. Its the album that i will always come back to, no matter what. I was reminded of it yesterday ( by a god-awful rendition of a Goo Goo Dolls song on the radio ) and so i was playing it today, whilst i got ready for work, and put it on in the car. Its funny how comfortably i can slip back into the feelings the songs give me, how i may have changed, my circumstances, my life, but the songs resonate the same way.

" Dizzy Up The Girl " was released when i was in Year 9 and it remained my favourite album all the way through high school. I listened to it with my friends but, more often then not, i'd listen to it by myself, shut away in my room. Everyone knew " Iris " - to my friends it was a love song from a movie soundtrack, or just a really good Top 40 song, but to me it was something different. The chorus to that song almost summed up exactly who i was for the formative years of my life. I know one of you out there has blogged about the same chorus fairly recently, but here's my take :

" I dont want the world to see me/
Cause I dont think that they'd understand/
When everything's made to be broken/
I just want you to know who i am ."

Yes, its contradictory - you dont want to be seen, but you do. By one person. I think for me, that was part of the point. I DIDNT want the world to see me, EXACTLY because i didnt think they'd understand - in fact, my major problem was terrified of people knowing, and not liking the real me. I thought people would judge me, they'd find me tto smart, or too quirky, or too uncool, or too " whatever " and i lived in fear of being judged and humiliated by those judgements. But at the same time, i wanted to be broken down and just have at least one person really, truely know me, and love me anyways. I'd wanted to break down barriers and have at least one person, whether it be a friend or a boyfriend or whoever, know my innermost thoughts and feelings and ideas and be able to look at me and say " You know what ? You rock! ". And what is weird is that i found myself singing that song again in the car today - and wanting exactly the same things.

But it wasnt just " Iris " - i connect to almost every single song on the album, and those that i cant find a deeper personal meaning in are, at least, still good songs. " Slide " despite seemingly being about abortion ( i've had that discussion/disection with a friend too - i'm sticking with the abortion theory ) was the first, and only song, i have ever sung solo in front of people, and i love it for that. The only reason i COULD sing it in front of people - classmates, on a school excursion, because i was the only one who actually knew the words - is because i loved it so much. I couldnt have got up the courage to sing a song i had no feeling for.

" Name " was the same kind of thing as " Iris " - just wanting to find that someone who knew me and wouldnt go sharing my secrets with the world, who wouldnt risk my humiliation or embarrasment. Plus, it has that great guitar bit towards the end where i could imagine that Johnny Rzeznik was singing just to me. " Black Balloon " was a comfort to me when i was really depressed and contemplating killing myself. I just liked thinking that maybe someone would miss me too. I later found out the song is actually about heroin addiction, but everytime i hear it, i think back on how bad i used to be and am glad that its not that way anymore. " Slave Girl " was a cover, and not technically a fantastic song, but i liked the rhythm - it was a song i could rock out to in front of my bedroom mirror.

I have other albums too - " Tuesday Night Music Club " by Sheryl Crow, " Hybrid Theory " by Linkin Park - albums that arent technically brilliant, that werent absolute best sellers, but that meant something to me in a time and in a place and that i'll always come back to. I guess thats the best part of music- you can always come back to it, and it will, if you love it enough, almost always come back to you.

I've Reached A Triple Century!

Hello, and welcome to this special, 300th post edition of " New Adventures In Dreamworld ". Yes, thats right, i've reached my 300th post on this version of my blog, and i'm lead to believe this may be cause for celebration. So wooty woot for me!

I was hoping to get an introduction written by my oldest reader for this post, but it seems she may be out of reach ( or so i would be lead to believe by the lack of response. If your reading this Sheena, i still love you... ). I was also hoping i could get some big celebrity guest to pop by and tell you how much they love me - but, unfortunately, i dont actually know any celebrities and turns out i cant afford to buy Johnny Depp/George Clooney/Drew Barrymores adoration. And so, in lieu of having no celebrity spruikers and one missing-in-action reader, i thought i'd trawl through the past 299 posts and bring you my Top 5. These post are either my favourite because i enjoyed writing them, i enjoy re-reading them, you people seemed to enjoy them or they relate to a beautiful memory. In chronological order:

1. You Know That Album? This one was about my favourite album from high school. Music has always mattered to me, but it really meant something during  my high school years. This was also one of my first posts on this blog, and it got good reception from my (few) readers at the time, so this was a post that sticks out in my mind as a "good" one.
2. Amy's Hall Of Attractions A list of the five men i find attractive that illicit a WTF?!? Go on, click the link, check them out.....you  know your curious now. This post was fun to write and it got good comment action. Everyone loves a good list, and theres always debate who's included, who isnt, and who you'd pick instead...
3. International Relations A co-blog with Andy from WildARSChase. Co-blogs rock ( my services are available if anyone is interested... ) and could this one not? We had an American, an Australian and a whole bunch of stupid generalisations. Andy has since gone on to co-blog with much better writers than me but hey, it was fun while it lasted.
4. The Making Of Me: A 10 Year Retrospective This one is exactly what it says it is, so if you've only come to my blog fairly recently, click that there link and you'll learn a whole bunch about little 'ole me. I would have said that you'd learn everything there is to know, but thats not true - a lady has to retain some mystery. That being said, this was a pretty important blog post. It opened me up to my readers just that little bit more, and i think by sharing with you all, some of past lot a bit of its murk. So to speak.
5. How Was It? Can I Get A Woo Hoo! This post features my famous patented dating scale. Why would it feature a dating scale? Because this is the first post that featured my gorgeous ( now ) fiance. Yep, its the post that i made after my first date with Mick, who then went by the mysterious nickname of Mr Gil. And for that reason, this post gets to be in the top 5... it reminds of my lover-boy and everything wonderful thats happened since!

So there you be - check those out if you missed them the first time round. Now, i know its customary to offer some kind of giveaway for blog milestones and, in truth, i did think about it. But, unluckily for you all, i couldnt think of anything that i could get and give away as a prize so...umm...sorry people. However - i love you guys big lots, and i want to make you all happy ( see, thats the people pleaser in me, coming out again ) so.... i want your suggestions. I'm going to post every day for the next five - which, in itself, is unusual - but i want you guys to pick my topics. Take yourself down there to the comments section and leave me a comment with what you'd like me to write about this week. Big, small, scary, TMI...whatever you want!

Also, feel free to leave comments telling me how much you love... i like those.
Oh, and PS: if you can help me make it to 50 followers by my 350th post, that would be muchly appreciated also. Thats my new goal!