halfway around the world. but really.

hello from sydney australia. yes i realize it’s been…give or take 15 weeks since i posted. i guess being in another country gives me more motivation to write on here. not that i don’t have motivation…because i do….but i always feel like i have so many things to write that it just ends up that nothing comes out at all. that all made better sense in my head…i’m gonna go ahead and say i’m still jet lagged.

i think i’m going to start a new blogging tactic. instead of waiting for the “right moment” or the “most profound idea” to write about i’m just going to write as i think, more often than not, and hope it comes out somewhat gracefully and relatively interesting.

at the moment i’m waiting for some muffins to finish baking. if i were reading this post 3 months ago about myself i would probably laugh at the thought or think i was lying in my post to impress people. i don’t really bake, or cook, or do much in the kitchen besides eat cereal. but times are achangin people! i had a couple things i wanted to start doing once i moved to california, baking/cooking (but mostly baking) was one of them. this was a goal for a couple different reasons.

1. baking makes you sound cool. and by cool i mean domestic, crafty, feminine, errrr scrumptious?

2. i pretty much love anything that has been baked. cookies. muffins. scones. cupcakes. whatever. if it’s baked, i want it in mah tummy.

3. i don’t like the idea of not knowing how to do something. i realize that is a very broad statement. but i didn’t have a clue of how to bake. thus, i must be a wonderful baker.

i realize none of these reasons are that honorable. but “being honest with my motives” was also another one of my goals. for example…1-3 above.

also side note: i have gotten up to check on the muffins literally 7 times since starting to write this post. i’m pretty sure my sister’s british mother in law we are staying with thinks i’m either crazy, or just really obsessed with these muffins…

…moving on.

(the muffins are done! they were made with rice flour…and…they look like they were made with rice flour!…)

oh oh! reasons number 4 for learning how to bake.

• i have been cursed with the new knowledge that i’m allergic to wheat. cool. so by default it’s my new life goal to make a muffin so good (wheat free of course) that it makes up for all the delicious goodness in the world that i have to watch other people eat while i dream about warm krispy kream doughnuts and mama stouff’s pumpkin pie knowing that i’ll never again feel those wonderful little wheat-filled kisses from heaven on my tongue.

ok…well…the muffins sort of taste like cinnamon corn bread. i mean that in the best way possible. goal: not exactly met. stomach, still happy though. maybe it will keep me from eating the tim tam’s staring at me from the pantry.

if you don’t know what a tim tam is, please google it now. i like to call them the oreo of australia. simply delightful and horrible for you all at the same time.

so…some funny things about sydney that i have learned so far.

• they sort of lack in supplying the public with an adequate amount of trash cans. this seems like a weird thing to notice but…when you’re carrying around your used gum or old coffee cup and all you wanna do is throw it away…you notice. i even got desperate enough that i threw my gum on the ground : ( i’m only admitting this because i’m supposed to be really honest on here, remember? i guess i should also say my real intentions in saying that…i want to care about littering more than i actually do. also, going green is trendy and i’m kinda a trend follower. ALSO, i hate that i’m environmentally lazy, it annoys me. ALL OF THAT TO SAY- i had a little pouting party for myself when i threw my gum on the side walk. obviously my conscience about it all hasn’t actually overcome my laziness completely though. something to work on indeed…

on to the next tidbit about australia…

• their accents are so strong they might as well be speaking another language. and they have their own little vocabulary that is unknown to a mere american like myself. “schooly”, “nappy”, “flat white”. the first apparently is a high school student recently graduated who is going on a vacation/“holiday”. the second is a diaper, and i’m pretty sure the last one means a latte. i’m gonna go ahead and not even google if those were correct. with that said though…their accents are also awesome and make everything they say sound at LEAST 10 times cooler than if they said it in an american accent. last thing. -i’ve yet to pick up on a common trend or style here. in clothing that is. my sister and i both agreed that if we lived in australia and wanted to dress in style we would have no idea where to start. we came to this realization after walking to the harbor and realizing we looked like little sunbeams walking through a sea of black, grey, and brown. so maybe that’s it huh? maybe dressing in darker colors is in style? that would go ahead and knock out most of my anthropologie wardrobe that i’ve spent many a christmas’s and birthdays working on though…hmmm. YET, the australians still come out on top. i know i’m easily impressed and think everyone i meet is “the coolest person ever” but seriously these people are so hilarious and friendly and they could wear something out of lady gaga’s closet everyday and i would still consider them to have the same coolness factor as one of those cuties from One Direction or Zooey Deschanel or something. Well…maybe not as cool as Zooey, but you get the point.

well, i’m done now. nothing profound or spiritual. just a girl today who likes muffins and nifty australian folk who say things like “going for a dip in the sea?”.

love, love.

-j

I JUST REMEMBERED: tomorrow i turn 23! here’s hoping an australian sings happy birthday to me. “Haaaapaaaaay beeeeurthdaayyy jenner!”

(here’s a little sneak peek of our trip thus far)