Sunday Update

I have finally finished uploading all of my photos from my visit to Tasmania – here is the link to the slideshow. Looking back, it was a wonderful holiday – very scenic. I think we picked the right time of year to go, as the autumn colours were stunning. I’d like to go back again around the same time next year for a longer period of time. The only think I found really disappointing was the lack of snow – apparently it snowed two days after we left!

Last weekend I went to the Adelaide Zoo, using my membership card for the first time. The weather was nice and the animals were fairly active. I managed to see the giraffes being fed and the Macaw free-flight. I also went to the new Envirodome – they have smaller creatures in there and my favourites were the chameleons and the sea horses.  The new panda exhibit was looking great. I went around the zoo twice and then afterward went shopping in the city. It’s so nice having the zoo so close to the CBD – I had an excellent day. I am thinking of repeating it next weekend, weather permitting. I also want to go to the SA Museum and the Art Gallery – I used to visit often when I was a uni student and now I haven’t been there in a long time.

Work has been very busy – we are coming to the end of another assessment period. Exams are next week, followed by report writing. 3 weeks to go until the holidays!

I have been doing a little bit of writing. I have managed to put a couple of my stories onto my phone so I can read it like an ebook – I also have the ability to write in a notebook on my phone, which I can then email. So, whenever I have a bit of spare time, I am now either reading or working on either SR, CR or J. This will also come in handy when NaNoWriMo comes around this year!

Briefly…

I read Don’t Judge A Girl By Her Cover by Ally Carter today. It was awesome – I didn’t think it’d be out here in Australia for months and was all set to buy it online and then there it was!  It doesn’t come out in the US until June 9 so you can bet that I was plenty surprised. I’m not going to spoil it but I will say that it was awesome!!! and I am now going to have to find time to reread all three. I’ll have to see if the booksellers have released Shannon Hale’s new book The Actor and the Housewife early here too

I am rearranging things at home which has kept me busy. Work has been pretty busy as usual. I have also been getting some writing done… mainly on SR but also on another novel I have been working on since I was in High School (that is in the process of splitting itself into a trilogy). That particular one is fantasy and very close to my heart.

I still have to finish uploading my Tasmania photos to Flickr. Once that’s done I will be able to upload the newest photos I’ve taken.

Don’t Judge A Girl By Her Cover

Saturday…

It’s been a busy couple of weeks here. The days are flying by at work and I am as busy as ever. I am involved in 2 research projects which are keeping me busy, teaching 2 subjects I haven’t taught before in addition to dealing with teenagers all day. I have to admit, they do make me laugh sometimes. I wore a new hat the other day and although I received a few compliments from the kids, the comment I got most often was “What is that on your head?”

I saw Phantom of the Opera, which was awesome – it was a very large stage show and I was seated well back but the view was good and the large screens made up for not being so close to the stage. We had all of the main performers too, which I was ecstatic about – and I finally got to see Anthony Warlow as the Phantom. I would love to buy an Australian Cast recording and a DVD… Tonight is the last night. Next they go to Taipei.

I read a book today, which touched my heart: If I Stay by Gayle Forman. I picked it up a few weeks ago and have been meaning to read it but never had the time. Today I started it and pretty much couldn’t put it down. It is beautifully written and the story will haunt me for a long time to come. I recommend it.

I have been doing a little work on SR and it is getting there slowly. I’m hoping to get some more done tomorrow and then spend a full day writing on the June long weekend.

~Jewel

Photos

I am spending the Easter weekend cleaning, importing music to iTunes and eating chocolate. I went outside yesterday and took some photos in the garden – the first is one of our Chinese Lantern plants, the second is my mum’s water pump and the last is my herb garden, which is situated in an old bathtub. I used my new tripod to take the photos and I am very happy with the results so far. I have also done a little bit of writing although most of my time has been spent reading through to catch up to where I am in the editing process.

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Quick Update + Photos

We’ve just finished the assessment period for term 1 and are in the midst of report writing. Hopefully I will be online more after that! My birthday on Friday was great. On Saturday, Mum and I went out and took some photos at the wetlands at Salisbury and then of the horses up in the hills that I visit. Saturday night I went out for dinner with my family, my sister’s boyfriend and my friend K. On Sunday, I relaxed. I did a little bit of shopping and processed some of my photos.

I have opened up a shop at Cafepress.com to sell my photos and some of my graphic designs on clothing, homewares and the like – the link is on the right hand side. I am planning on uploading more images soon.

I still haven’t made much time from writing although my head has felt in a fog since the weekend – too much staying up late, I think. We have two and a bit weeks until the holidays and I am looking forward to the break… I just have to get through marking and reports first :p

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Quick Update

Busy week last week – it was a four day working week, thanks to the Adelaide Cup and although it flew by, it meant that there was one less day to get my usual stuff done. This week is the last week of assessment for the term and it is also my birthday on Friday!

I’ve read a couple more books, including “Princess of the Midnight Ball” by Jessica Day George, which I loved. Definitely a fav.

Have barely done any writing – I am seriously going to have to make a regular writing time every day. It’ll be good practise for NaNo 09 anyway!

Sunday

I went into town yesterday and purchased some new books. I took my usual walk through the university and managed to get some nice photos – I think playing with my camera is really starting to pay off. I have spent a good part of last night and today reading – in the past 32 hours, I have read:

• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
• Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
• Restless Spirit by Susan Brocker
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

I have also read a good portion of The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling and also a good portion of Dreams Made Flesh by Anne Bishop. I have to recommend The Hunger Games – I read it in one long sitting with a couple of very short breaks to hang the washing out and order dinner and can’t wait for the sequels.

In other news, I have been trying to work on getting at least one more chapter of my 2008 NaNo novel for my friend K to read – she loved the first couple of pages that I gave her and said she thought it was better than SR. Not bad for a first draft!

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Weekly Wrapup

The week zoomed by so fast – I was at work on Monday to Wednesday and then at a conference on Thursday and Friday. The conference is part of a research program I am involved in – I took part last year and volunteered to repeat the experience again this year. Next week looks equally as busy, although I have no days out.

So far the weekend has been quiet. Our palm tree is flowering which attracted many, many bees, so I snapped some photos of that this morning and then spent some time uploading the photos from my camera to the computer. I still have to upload to Flickr but you can see a great photo on my Project 365 photoblog.

Tomorrow I will be going out for lunch with a friend, which will be nice – I haven’t caught up with her in a while. We will be going for a drive before lunch, so I will make sure to take my camera along.

I changed the theme for something a little different. I am also thinking about working on an online novel for fun… I’m still thinking through ideas. If I decide to go ahead, it’ll probably be in the fantasy genre.

Bullety Goodness

• My cool little yellow car is back to normal – actually this is probably the best it has been in a while. The power windows work better and the clock is finally showing the right time.

• I had a wisdom tooth out on Thursday. Took Friday off to recover, back to work today. It’s okay, except for when I smile or raise my voice – and it’s hard not to raise your voice in a class of loud, noisy students who make me smile – and laugh – all the time.

• I found my favourite Old English Toffee ice cream in a 97% fat free variety!

• I am seriously thinking of writing an online novel. Hmmm. If I can just find an idea I like…

• I’ve just finished Season 3 of How I Met Your Mother on DVD – the fourth season is showing on TV on Monday nights now. Love it!

• I have some new photos up at my 365 day Photoblog

• I am still bummed that Coldplay aren’t coming to Adelaide this time around. I debated going to the Sydney show but there were limited seats left to the one show I could have attended.

Playing Catch Up

Holidays are over and it’s back to work. I wrote a post on the weekend but either my computer chewed it up or WordPress was having hiccups because it promptly disappeared and I couldn’t get it back.

I had a pretty eventful last week of holidays. The first two days were reasonably restful. On the Monday, I stayed home and worked on SR, trying to get as much as possible finished. My sister was also home all day, sick. On Tuesday, I went out with my friend K. We went driving through the Adelaide Hills, climbed  one of the King of the Mountain climbs for the Tour Down Under in my zippy yellow car, saw some young thoroughbreds at Lindsay Park Stud and then had lunch at a nice pub.

Wednesday morning at 2:46, I woke up feeling very ill… I was sick all of Wednesday with gastro. The only ‘good’ thing about it was that I managed to watch most of the inauguration of Barack Obama, though I missed the swearing in itself.

On Thursday, still feeling a bit under the weather, I went back for my first day of school with the rest of our staff – the students didn’t start back until Tuesday the 27th. I am teaching English, ESL, Australian Studies, Legal Studies and the Personal Learning Plan. Both Thursday and Friday was a rush of gtting things in order for the first day back and in truth I am still getting organised, although most of the hard work is done. I am teaching mainly Grade 10 and my classes have been wonderful so far.

I kept my weekend pretty quiet – I was feeling sick still right up until Monday, although it was mainly loss of appetite, which I could handle. I did a little bit of work in my garden, although a lot of that will probably take a beating – we’ve had three days of HOT weather including two days of 44C weather (114F), so a lot of my younger plants are dead or dying. Because of the water restrictions, I can’t give them another long soaking with my hose until Saturday and I can only carry so many buckets or watering cans of water.

~ Jewel