Clogs and Jam

Tania and Joe's blog for friends and family.

jobs and things

So it’s April now, officially past the three month mark. Joe signed with an Australian Agent called Network Agency. This is very exciting they seem like a great company. He also shot his first job for a real estate company… Sydney lifestyle shots and has been keeping busy with Jennifer’s art documenting work as well. But not too busy. He has been still getting in the waves a  few times a week. 

I got a job at Gorgeous Cosmetics.com I have never had 4 days of training /induction for a small boutique ever, but , it really does work, you really do know what is expected of you at every turn. They are strict about clothing and style and customer service. The real fun part is teaching people things about makeup, so many people come in and say    ’ i don’t know anything’ so I think oneday in the future if I have my own little spa in my backyard , this will be good training. 

It’s easter Sunday so we are going to my Aunt’s house for dinner. My uncle is in the hospital and has been for weeks. He hasn’t really been able to communicate so she must be exhausted just there everyday waiting for news. 

Today we will get together and do what we do, eat insane amounts of South African style food and laugh. 

We are past mid Autumn and the sun is still shining !!!

It’s been definetly the right move. 

Yoga this morning, on the roof before the sun was really high in the sky. It was perfect, I’m going to do it all the time, I gotta get a better shot of the other view, the city with the harbour Bridge and Glebe Bridge!!!! The roof makes up for the teeny apartment!

Yoga this morning, on the roof before the sun was really high in the sky. It was perfect, I’m going to do it all the time, I gotta get a better shot of the other view, the city with the harbour Bridge and Glebe Bridge!!!! The roof makes up for the teeny apartment!

There has been so much to do, buying things and more things. Plus without the Internet set up yet we’ve been slacking off our posts. Not to worry. This is a vase our friend Ana Cecilia gave us when we got married but we haven’t been able to use it up till now, it’s been waiting for us , thanks AC!

There has been so much to do, buying things and more things. Plus without the Internet set up yet we’ve been slacking off our posts. Not to worry. This is a vase our friend Ana Cecilia gave us when we got married but we haven’t been able to use it up till now, it’s been waiting for us , thanks AC!

I found these silk flower making tools today in a thrift store, I couldn’t not get them right? Gorgeous even if I didn’t use them , but I will.

I found these silk flower making tools today in a thrift store, I couldn’t not get them right? Gorgeous even if I didn’t use them , but I will.

Soooo we found a place in Petersham, right across the street from Leichardt. That street would be Parramatta road. Petersham is the Portuguese neighborhood in Sydney but we are a tad closer to Leichardt’s centre which is Italian, but you know, really Italian, not just pizza joints, people speaking Italian and shoe stores and all things Italian. As I type this I am sitting in the library which is in the ‘Italian Forum’. We have in the last week discovered some great little cafes and Petersham park, pool and lawn bowls. I dont think we’ll take up lawn bowls but the club has a bistro and live music and community events that all look fun. Josh and Carlie my super duper friends from many years passed gifted us a bunch of furniture to keep us civilised till our stuff arrives in May.  xT 

Soooo we found a place in Petersham, right across the street from Leichardt. That street would be Parramatta road. Petersham is the Portuguese neighborhood in Sydney but we are a tad closer to Leichardt’s centre which is Italian, but you know, really Italian, not just pizza joints, people speaking Italian and shoe stores and all things Italian. As I type this I am sitting in the library which is in the ‘Italian Forum’. 
We have in the last week discovered some great little cafes and Petersham park, pool and lawn bowls. I dont think we’ll take up lawn bowls but the club has a bistro and live music and community events that all look fun.
Josh and Carlie my super duper friends from many years passed gifted us a bunch of furniture to keep us civilised till our stuff arrives in May. 

xT 

[Flash 10 is required to watch video]

Fun and games in the mountains, a much needed time with friends to get away from the daily rental search. 

XT

1st Week

After our first 3 days in Sydney we’re getting over our jet lag with moderate success and have gotten into full errand mode. Opening bank accounts, getting cell phone numbers etc. We’ve been apartment hunting and have been depressed by how crappy the apartments are in our price range. Like 1st-apartment-in-college crappy. Not only are they lackluster but there are 20-30 people queued up to see the same dive. So we have decided to turn our sights more inland and move to a really ethnically diverse aka immigrant area (it’s where we belong).

Friday we went to a show to watch High Places and The Books and we spent all of Saturday looking at apartments. We may have found one that was habitable but we’ll see how the competition comes along with the paperwork…

My favorite food discovery this week: the Pork Roll. It’s a hard roll with some slices of Asian pork, cilantro, beets, sliced carrots and lettuce with some mayo and sriracha. It’s great and $4.

Greetings from Coogee Beach!

-Joe

The Best Outcome of Procrastination EVER! I’ve been trying to get rid of my Toyota Matrix car for the last 3 months with no luck. I was leasing it and both local Toyota dealerships wanted to pay me at least $2000 less than what I owed on it because they knew I was between a rock and a hard place (which means I would have to pay them $2000 to take it off my hands). With a week left in the states I was still putting off taking it to the dealership for the inevitable screwing and my friend Harrison mentioned in passing that he was going to look at buying a new car this weekend. Lightbulbs went off, deals were made and many bank forms signed and now Harrison is the proud owner of my trusty little Matrix and I didn’t lose a dime. Joe

The Best Outcome of Procrastination EVER!

I’ve been trying to get rid of my Toyota Matrix car for the last 3 months with no luck. I was leasing it and both local Toyota dealerships wanted to pay me at least $2000 less than what I owed on it because they knew I was between a rock and a hard place (which means I would have to pay them $2000 to take it off my hands). With a week left in the states I was still putting off taking it to the dealership for the inevitable screwing and my friend Harrison mentioned in passing that he was going to look at buying a new car this weekend. Lightbulbs went off, deals were made and many bank forms signed and now Harrison is the proud owner of my trusty little Matrix and I didn’t lose a dime.

Joe

As part of my farewell to midwestern cuisine I’ve been saying goodbye to pies that I probably won’t see in Australia. I had a gigantic slice of banana cream pie from Milwaukee’s Beans and Barley (after I downed a black bean burrito) and also had a standard american diner coffee with a slice of coconut cream pie from Chicago’s Hoosier Mama. I was not able to get a picture off before the slice was pretty much eaten. Next in my list is some sort of strawberry-rhubarb pie.

Joe

[Flash 10 is required to watch video]

Today we woke up to muchos snow, even on the window sills where it never collects. Amazingly as Joe started to shovel it started snowing again, my favourite thing is always to see our garden table , so easy to see how much has fallen. It’s an official snow day with not many going to work or school.

XT