Melbourne lane ways

The lane ways in Melbourne are famous for their graffiti art. As you can see every space on all the walls has been completely covered in paint, paper, etc.  Some spots are really cool, interesting, and really well done, others not so much. Walking along these lane ways you get the sense that there are a lot of talented street artists in Melbourne.  Here are a few pictures I took while we were checking them out.

Pretending he's a graffiti artist

Graffiti model!

Another graffiti model!

Run out of space to paint? Paint the trash cans!!

Posing with graffiti art

I liked this doorway.

Words to live by

Americans should keep this in mind when searching for terrorists. Maybe this is why we could never find Osama bin Laden, we didn't look for the guy in the flashy suit.

Aussie airport security

Adsy and I flew to Melbourne last weekend for a little weekend away from Sydney, but before I get into talking about all the fun we had, first let me talk about what it was like to go through the airports both in Sydney and Melbourne.

On Thursday night as we were driving to the airport I had a quick freak out moment because I did not pack my passport and I was not sure if I needed it to fly. I understand we were flying domestic, but I still was not sure if for whatever reason the Australian government would like to track my movement in their country.

Worrying was completely pointless, because not only did the girls at the ticket counters at both airports not ask for my passport but they also did not even ask for any form of ID.  In fact, at no point during my time at either airport did I once take out my drivers license to prove I was who I said I was.  Crazy!!

I also did not have to take off my shoes or pull out any liquids I was traveling with during the security checkpoint.  This must be what it felt like to fly in the 70s, 80s, or 90s.  Anyway, I thought it was worth sharing because it was so unexpected and totally opposite of how I am used to flying in the States.  It goes to show you how intense our security is when compared to Australia's lax system.

Ending Lent a bit early....

I did not mean to end Lent early, it just kind of happened. Oddly enough after 45 days of being good and not faltering with the things I gave up for Lent, I accidentally ended it all within a 15 minute time span. Technically it was not my fault.  This weekend Adsy and I traveled to Melbourne for the long weekend (I will post a separate blog on our travels with pictures, etc. soon).
We were out and about last Friday when we stopped to have a quick bite at a crepe place close to our hotel. We decided to get the crepes take away and go back and relax in the room. While we were waiting for the crepes to be made one of the guys working there came outside to deliver lattes to a table of girls.  A second later he realized he had made one too many. He turned around to go back inside, but then saw me and gave the coffee to me on the house.  At first I was mad because I restricted myself to "one coffee a day" and this would have made two.  After a few seconds of debating whether to drink it or not Adsy and I both agreed that it would be totally rude not to accept it. Plus, I figured I had not fully given up coffee so if I was going to break one sacrifice early coffee would be a good one to break. 

Sadly this is not the end of the story.  Once we got up to the room to enjoy our yummy crepes I opened a bottle of cider that we also bought from the shop.  I took one sip and quickly realised something was not right.  Then I saw it, in a tiny little area on the far side of the label, the words Alc/Vol 8.6%. OH NO!! What I thought was a harmless bottle of apple cider was in fact alcoholic cider.  It was at this point that I officially gave up, I had now broken two of the three things I gave up for Lent.  I figured I had had a good run, so to make it an even three I popped a chocolate egg into my mouth to finish it all off.

To tell you the truth I am not at all disappointed with how it all ended, in fact I found the whole thing quite hilarious. The fact that I drank a coffee and then proceeded to drink alcohol right after could do nothing more than make me laugh. I am still pretty proud of how far I came with everything I gave up, and I am sure Jesus still loves me.

With all of this talk of Lent in mind I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter holiday! For those of you who acknowledged sacrificing something for Lent I hope yours ended a little better than mine!

Blue Mountains Adventure Continued!

Here are more of the pictures I promised to post from our trip to the Blue Mountains last weekend. These were taken with Adsy's camera, but I think he reduced the quality so you cannot steal them you thieves!  Take notice that there are not any photos of Adsy on this trip except for the ones taken on my camera.  Oops! I guess that is what happens when you are behind the camera the whole time. Next time I'll be sure to take more pictures of him and also more pictures of the both us together. 

The Three Sisters!

Three Sisters from Sublime Point. It was great as there was no one out there. Usually you run into all the tourists on buses, but lucky for us there were not any at this spot

It was crazy windy and rainy, but you cannot really tell because I look so beautiful. Like a part time model.  

Adsy was loving the Blue Mountain fungus.

Hello!

I think I see a blue mountain animal ready to pounce.

Libby remember this bench and pose? I sure do, and I took this picture for you only!

So pretty (except for the dead body Adsy sees, can you see it?)

Awesome dog that I wish were mine.

Close up of the dead body. Can you see it now? There is something there, but I don't think it is a dead body.  Although you would totally die if you jumped from where we were standing. Good thing we did not jump, or did we....

A day in the Blue Mountains

Last weekend Adsy and I decided we needed a day out of Sydney, so on Sunday we jumped in the car and drove the 2 hours up into the Blue Mountains. We stopped and had breakfast in Leura which ended up not being that great because it took about a good hour to get our food (I became a hungry tiger which is never a good thing...).  Although at breakfast we ordered a "flowerpot scone" which was fun and delicious. 

After our long breakfast we headed out to some of the lookout points around the Blue Mountains.  I did not take too many pictures because Adsy's camera is much better than mine, but I have posted a few I took and will post pictures from Adsy's camera soon.

Yummy flowerpot scone

Flowerpot scone face!!

Taking pictures of each other taking pictures. We are cool.





Libby do you recognise these waterfalls?

Becca the photographer (using Adsy's camera)

We have better pictures of the scenery which I'll post soon.

We had a great time trekking around the Blue Mountains however, it was a big day.  Poor Adsy's knee was done by the time we finished.  We did not mean to go for such a big walk like we did, plus there were a lot of stairs which we didn't realise.  Nevertheless it was a fun day out of Sydney.  More shots of the scenery to come!   

Awkward class moment

The stress from school has been consistently rising now for a little while because I realise more and more that I have a lot to do in not a lot of time.  It mainly comes from my own problem with procrastination.  I would rather chat to friends and family back home rather than start working on schoolwork. 

With this in mind I had a dream the other night where I had to stand at the front of my class and answer questions on a project I had not yet finished. (The real life project for this class is due in three weeks) Anyways, in the dream I was being humiliated by my lecturer for not having the project completed even though it was not due yet. 

Last night I am sitting outside the classroom in the little waiting area. I started talking to one of my classmates about the dream saying "I had this dream last night where John (our lecturer) was in my dream....." at which she replies "you know he is sitting right over there right and can hear you?" No I did not know this. I then had to start over and quickly tell the dream, but I don't think he got what it was about.  I'm pretty sure my lecturer now thinks I was dreaming about him when in reality I was dreaming about being publicly humiliated by him in front of the whole class.

Awesome. What a nice and embarrassing way to spend the next couple of hours in class.

Who knew birds like sugar?

Yesterday I spent the afternoon at the Art Gallery of New South Wales as part of an assignment for one of my classes. While I was there I thought I'd take a tea break at the cafe. Since the day was so nice I decided I would enjoy my tea sitting at a table outside.

My tea came with two packets of sugar which I had to keep away from the birds who kept eyeing them. Obviously I did not do a good job because this little guy got a hold of one of the packets and ate it.

It was amazing to watch him open the packet of sugar and then tilt it to get the sugar to spill out into his mouth. It was very clear he had done this before. Luckily I had my camera with me to take a quick shot. Too bad I didn't catch it on video, because it was really funny.

I bet he was up all night from all that sugar!!

Lent update

I must say I am very proud of myself for how my Lent sacrifices are going.  Besides the cookies I ate at the very beginning (remember it was a life or death situation) I have not cheated! 

Don't let me fool you, it has been extremely hard.  I thought alcohol was going to be harder than sweets, but I was wrong. It is amazing how often you come into contact with sugary sweet delights. Either at stores, cafes, or people offering them to you, sweets are EVERYWHERE!  So many times I have finished dinner and wanted "a little something sweet" but cannot have it.  My roommate Lizzy has really been putting me to the test, besides the devil like tiramisu she made, she made yummy looking pistachio cookies that I really want. They are currently sitting out on the table and I have to avert my eyes each time I pass.  So sad. 

Again I thought alcohol would be the hardest to give up, but really it hasn't been.  I guess it is because Adsy doesn't drink that much, and we don't go out to pubs or bars a lot either.  Those two things make it much easier to give up alcohol because I am not around it.

Anyway not that any of you really care about this, but I am proud of myself. Now only 17 more days to go!

Arts Interview

Many of you have probably seen my posts on Facebook and even Twitter (which I never use) about a thing called arts interview.  Arts interview is the brainchild of one of my past lecturers who wanted to bring more discussion into the Australian arts industry.  To do this she and another woman Kim recruited students like myself to help bring this project to light, and arts interview was born.  

What we hope to accomplish at arts interview is to interview people all across diverse art practices from high level executives of big arts companies to emerging practicing artists.  Every month is linked with an arts management theme in which each interview is centered around.  For example, the blog went live in March and the theme was should the arts act like a business? and April's theme is collaboration, etc.

I am very excited to be apart of this project.  I think it will be very helpful and inspiring to those in the arts community.  For myself it will also be beneficial for networking opportunities in and around Australia.  Maybe one day I'll start up an arts interview America edition!

P.S. I started this project back in February, but the reason I am just now posting is because my first interview was posted yesterday! Yippee be sure to check it out at www.artsinterview.com

Barbie Girl Jr.

UNSW has a school of Optometry which offers free eye exams to all students. Seeing as I have never had my eyes properly checked and I have been getting headaches after reading or looking at the computer I decided it was about time to get my eyes examined.

After going through the longest eye exam ever (at least they were thorough) I was told I should get some reading glasses.  Here are a few pictures of my new glasses that Adsy helped me pick out (no I did not get the big black ones he made me try on, and then posted on Facebook). 

On a side note:when I was picking them out I kept laughing because I have a pair of Vans shoes that look just like these glasses. Obviously that did not matter, because I got them anyway! 

                      

If I didn't look enough like her already, now I look even more like my Mom!!

Didn't you know you are supposed to match your reading glasses to your shoes?

As you can see I had a lot of fun taking pictures of my new glasses.

I have had these glasses since last Friday and I love them.  It took a little while to get used to them as I have never had to have glasses, but I can tell they help a lot. Now I can sit on the computer and read for hours without having to worry about straining my eyes to see! Lets just hope I don't lose or break them!