We decided to join up for the Havaianas Thong Challenge.  It was where 2,088 of our nearest and dearest floated on inflatable thongs into the ocean and linked to make a giant chain.  We competed (and won a world record – I won’t go into my thoughts on stupid world records right here) against 4 other beaches in AUS and won.  Wanna know what I won?  An expansion of my “list of things that make me motion sick” to include “floating on the ocean on an inflatable thong”.

After the funsies (does that work?  I’m trying to see if “funsies” is a word that works with my vocab) we had at the beach we went home and drank A LOT of water and napped and hid from the sun like the Cullens.  Then it was time for the party at the yacht club.  I was smart and wore white pants because during my shunning of the sun I didn’t realise that rain clouds strolled in like they owned the place, and owned the place they did.  Luckily there was enough covered area to still eat the plates of food I kept piling high and the tables were cleaned up quick enough that I was able to sit and laugh at the people dancing … then, we became those people dancing.  Yes, I said “we”.  For the first time ever Rob and I saw each other dance..  I’d like to point out here that I’m refraining from saying that we “danced together”, that makes it sound somewhat sweet and slow and coordinated.  It was anything but.  I felt like Tina Fey in Baby Mama trying to frame her face and vogueing.  I believe at one point that I even said to Rob “this looks cool right?”.  We even managed to stay on the dance floor while the DJ tried to push the limits of songs people can actually dance to by playing Coldplay’s Paradise.   We persevered because we knew if we got off the dance floor we would by no chance in H-E-Double Hockey Sticks make it back on there.  Boy were we rewarded by the means of Salt ‘n Peppas Push It (I know you just sang “push it real good” in your head).  That is where I lost every last bit of dignity.  There was a benefit to the dancing (not by anyone around us – they suffered) but we were able to wait out all of the traffic and made it home easy breezy.

I’ve learned all of the tricks of prioritizing or steps to success (come on, who hasn’t had to take a Franklin Covey or Gallup organization course).  I know all of the steps and had the giant binder calendar as shown here:

I’ve since realized that the lessons from Highly Effective Habited people can be replaced with lessons from Hoarders.  If you don’t have room, you can’t have it.  I take this very literally.  I bought a new planner.  A small one.  Frankly, the old binders are so big it’s no wonder people overcommit.  A calendar should neither have room (nor suggest) for you to prioritize 60 items.  My new diary is small and fits in my handbag.  My new rule of thumb is:

If it doesn’t fit in my diary, I doesn’t do it

Ok, I’m still working out the grammar on that one …

So I’ve read some new books with this new year.  I’m 3 books into my 2012 goal (once again see GoodReads links to your right hand side).  Here are my reviews:

Then Again by Diane Keaton - How not interesting. First of all – STOP MAKING COLLAGES, YOU ARE A GROWN WOMAN, NOT A 12 YEAR OLD! … and although she seems anti-marriage because it was oppressive to her seemingly creative mother to me it was apparent that it was because neither Woody Allen, Al Pacino, nor Warren Beatty would marry her (and she’s obviously still in love with the first two).

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon - Intriguing point of view. Christopher’s story, outlooks, and achievements were endearing. I found some situations hurt my heart a bit, but realised he wouldn’t understand why they should hurt his too.

Is Everyone Hanging out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling - Kept me laughing (technically giggling on the couch), I’d be willing to trade-in two friends to be friends with Mindy. (Don’t worry, if you’re a friend reading this review I wouldn’t trade you in).

Thoughts on Pop Culture (specifically Beyonce and Jay-Z)

Apparently Beyonce and Jay-Z had a baby this week (I normally pretend to not pay attention to celebrity “stuff” … or something like that).  I’m kind of getting over the name (Blue Ivy Carter for enquiring minds) however I was verbally assaulted by Jay-Z’s new rap to his daughter not once but TWICE whilst in the car today.  At first I thought it was a radio station joke … and then I realized it wasn’t … here are some of my “favorite” lyrics …

• Your grandpa died of liver failure
• The most beautifulest thing in the world
• You was made in Paris
• Make sure the plane you on is bigger than your carry-on baggage
• You’re my child with the child from Destiny’s Child

And it times for the quilt blocks.  Weeks 12 and 13 and 14. 

Rob: Whose glass is this?  Or this?  We need to get some sort of magnets so we know.

Me: *pfft* oh yeah, because we’ve all heard of “glass magnets” (yes, I really used air quotes there).

Enter New Years Eve Day …

We had a wonderful lunch at Sandalford Winery and then began to peruse the gift shop.  Yes, I know this is confusing to some as we don’t drink alcohol, however I have quite an affinity for cheese and wineries tend to have quite the fun cheese accessory selection … but I digress … anyways, Rob came beaming around the corner proudly showing me what he found.  In deed, they were “glass magnets”.  Suction cup glass identifiers to be exact. But he was right, I admit it.

<Rob enters room which Ikea has obviously just exploded>

Me: Oh! oh! oh! Look Rob! I got those new glasses we were talking about!

Rob: Don’t we have somewhere around 30 glasses?

Me: Um, I guess technically.  But these are the ones WE SAID that we really needed.  See, we have the large glasses, and the  short juice glasses, and the large thick glasses to be kept cold, and WE realised that we need medium sized glasses for beverages in which we drank not quite as little as juice but not as much as water.  Right?

Rob: Seriously?

Me: Would you like an orange Fanta?

Not that I mean to invite you all into our bedroom, but here’s another example … <enter bedroom>

Me: pst. hey. are you awake?

Rob: no

Me: really? because you seem awake

Rob: *ugh* yes

Me: tell me seven things you love about me!

Rob: huh? Seven? What are you talking about? Where did you get seven?

Me: well, I figured that 10 was too many that you certainly wouldn’t answer and two isn’t enough things for you to love about me.

Rob: *exaggerated* ZZZZZZZ

THE END

• I agree with the library poster that “reading is fun-damental”
• I think Pizza Hut should have a Book It!  program for adults, I’d be willing to be a spokesperson for a free tee-shirt.  That being said, if anyone is willing to buy me this Book-it! tee shirt (or this one) I will promise you a lot of friendship and that I will always photoshop pics of you before posting them on facebook.
• When my elementary school switched from using the trusty card catalog to a new and flashy computer system they had a naming contest.  My suggestion was “The Booker Hooker” … get it, because you could hook the books you were looking for.  It should’ve won.

My book reviews are all available through my goodreads link (view widget on the right hand column please) so I won’t bore with a recap of those.  What I’ll do instead is put the books in the following categories: Highly Recommended, Guilty Pleasures, ‘Eh Decent *shoulder shrug*, Stay Away at all Costs

Highly Recommended 

Non Fiction

• The Destiny of the Republic by Candace Millard (Also recommend Millard’s River of Doubt)
• In the Garden of the Beasts By Erik Larson (Also recommend Larson’s Devil in the White City)
• The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
• Down Under by Bill Bryson
• Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell (Also recommend Vowell’s Assassination Vacation)
• Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
• Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua
• Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall
• Immortal LIfe of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

• Joined some mates (I figured I should speak Australian in lieu of all the aforementioned changes) for twilight sailing at the yacht club.  Complete with post sailing BBQ and dancing on the front lawn.
• End-of-work-week-pre-holiday celebration at Galileo Buona Cucina.  Four hours of the most fantastic Italian food in Perth.
• Chinese Christmas Eve dinner at The Grand Palace.  It was fantastical!! (specifically the wasabi prawns).  I think I need to invent new reasons to keep going back.
• Celebrated with crackers.  There’s something about a crown, joke, and a present that makes a holiday.  I think I got the short end of the stick as my gift was none other than a shoe horn.
• Fired up the BBQ for an easy Christmas day dinner complete with me burning tomatoes to the point that the smoke detector chirped a lovely holiday tune.

Rob and I have taken up sailing (read: Rob knows how to sail and I know how to buy and wear a lot of nautically themed outfits).  Because of this new hobby I sort of fell into the “right place at the right time” scenarios and ended up on the Swiss Timing team for the Perth 2011 Sailing World Championships.  What that means is I’m spending just about every waking minute of an entire fortnight (I’m not telling you what a fortnight is  - you can wikipedia it just like I did) on boats, in the water, witnessing the best of the best as they aim for gold and the opportunity to sail in the Olympics.  It is so. much. fun … (except for the first day because I forgot to take my motion sick meds and spent the day vomiting).

In just the first week alone we had:

• thunderstorms
• shark sightings
• dolphin sightings
• sinking boats
• no wind
• lots of wind
• and even a sailor altercation with the media (which you can read about here and see pictures of here!)

I can’t think of a better Christmas present than having this much fun (Rob – don’t take that literally).

Once we had time to get over our two-day tryptophan + heat induced napping it was time to get creative.  You see, when I came back from the states I brought some fabric to make our first Christmas quilt.  I loved it because the colours felt beach-y, summer-y, and Christmas-y all at the same time.  I went gang busters on the thing and managed to completely ignore Rob  get it done in less than two months!  That way we can enjoy it for the entirety of the official Christmas time period.  (Yes, it has been pointed out to me that I made a quilt for summer … but I swear it will be used even if I have to turn the aircon down to arctic levels).

Well, I couldn’t do all of that work and not take photos right?  This was partially done because I ooh and ah over everyone’s photos of children that I thought people should be forced to look at things I create too.  Here’s where the dining room chair comes into place …

Rob: What are we doing today?

Me: Oh, oh, oh! I think we shall take photos of our new Christmas quilt!

Rob: Huh?

Me: AT THE BEACH!

Rob: Seriously?  Well, okay, let’s go …

Me: Grab the dining room chair!

The conversation continued in the elevator as a neighbour got on …

Neighbour: What are you doing?

Me: I’m taking my quilt out to the beach for a photo shoot!

Neighbour: Oh, that’s very creative and artistic.

Me: *nudges rob* See, I told you it was artistic!

We then went to the beach and took the photos. (I’m not sure which one, just a not crowded one that apparently allows dogs since some joined for a bit).  Rob was willing to even take a “few” of me running into the water with the quilt.

And that’s how our dining room chair spent its Thanksgiving vacation.  (I omitted the part where I hit a curb).