Equal money

I love Aussie money. First of all, it's money and who doesn't like that? And it's colorful which just makes life cheerier when you're buying your milk and bread (and easier to quickly find the bill you're looking for). Also, it's made of an interesting polymer material which is kind of like fabric, kind of like plastic. It's rugged and slick with a cute little clear window to prevent counterfeiting. 

But I especially love Australian currency because I've noticed that each one features a man on one side of the bill...and a woman on the other (except the 5, which features a woman on one side and a building on the other). How cool is that? 

Poets AB 'Banjo' Paterson and Dame Mary Gilmore. If you look carefully you can see some of their poetry on the bill

Reverend John Flynn (founder of world's first aerial medical service) and Mary Reibey (who arrived in Oz as a convict and went on to become a shipping magnate and philanthropist)

Aboriginal writer David Unaipon and Australia's first female parliamentarian Edith Cowan

Well done, Australia! (By the way, the coins all feature animals and symbols of Australia.)

This has made me think about who I would include on US currency if I had a vote. Obviously Jane Addams, Sacagawea, and Susan B Anthony have been honored (although ironically those coins never really caught on). Sally Ride? Louisa Alcott? Ella Fitzgerald? 

Who would you nominate?

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For more info on Aussie money, go here.

Ahoy, maties

Well, we're not in Kansas anymore!  That's probably just as well, since when we were driving across the country,  I lit my hair on fire in Kansas. But that's a story for another day.

We spent the month of August packing up, cleaning out, driving across the US, spending delicious time with family and friends, and saying goodbye over and over and over again. (Oh, the goodbyes! The only thing worse than saying goodbye to people you love is watching your children say goodbye to people they love. Heartbreaking.)  In early September, we offically set off on the plane bound for our new home.

We're finally emerging from the jetlag fog (and some pesky colds) to explore and enjoy our new hometown. Here's our home for the next few years. We love it. It was a really lucky find when we had a quick 3 days in an off-season market to find housing; we knew as soon as we walked in that it was the one. (The only thing that will make it better is when our belongings arrive in mid October.) Can you spot two silly teenagers who sneaked into the shot?

As you can see, it's early spring here so no leaves on the trees quite yet. But we have roses in our garden!

We really like the neighborhood (Yarralumla). There's a little row of shops a few blocks away with a post office, bakery, grocery, gift shop and a few restaurants. In the other direction just a couple of blocks aways is this beautiful scene that we can't get enough of:

So that's the quick version of the past few weeks. I'll fill in some more of the details in coming days but here's our journey by the numbers:

13 different sets of beds 
drove through 11 states in 5 days
hundreds of awesome songs on our playlist
5+ generous hosts (my parents, G's parents, my brother Matt, my grandparents, and Christie)
countless generosities from and visits with dear ones
3 visits to Cafe Rio and 4 visits to Cafe Zupas
24 hours traveling to Australia from take-off in SLC to landing in Canberra
and 3.5 filled airsick bags enroute

Some details I'll fill in more than others, I promise.

Music to travel by

Not too long ago, I asked people here and on facebook about their favorite roadtrip songs so we could put together a mega playlist for our cross-country drive. Well, you came through brilliantly with a crowdsourcing bounty of 167 songs from 72 people. Bravo! There are some serious musical treasures there (or traysures as they say in my home state). Thank you, everyone! The best part is we have a master list with your name next to the song you suggested so we can reminisce about each of you while we listen to your music. Can't wait. I am so excited to listen to these. While I am determined to wait so we can savor them for the first time on the trip starting next Thursday, that doesn't mean you can't go have a listen! If you're on Spotify (and if not, why not?) you can access the playlist here and start listening now, all 11 hours of it. Otherwise, here's a song-by-song list in case you're curious. (And, by the way, it's not too late! Chime in with your picks in the comments and we'll add your song to the list.)

Click to read more ...

Call me, Kate: two degrees from being besties

Lauren has been happily working full time this summer as a day camp counselor again here in town. (Sam has also joined her there as a Counselor in Training for several weeks, which has been terrific.) Partway through the season, a new family enrolled in camp, a daughter and a son who were living here for the summer with their very famous mum who happened to be shooting a movie in the area*. 

I want to respect people's privacy here so I will give you this hint: I love her and her name rhymes with Wate Kinslet. 

Yep, as it turned out, Lauren was the counselor for her 11-year-old daughter this summer! They got along swimmingly and the girl chatted freely and matter-of-factly about her life as tweens do (including some interesting topics you'll have to ask Lauren about). Lauren met and chatted with Kate at drop-off and reports that she was lovely and down-to-earth.  L even escaped any tongue-tied, oh-to-be-famous moments.

It's just as I suspected. Kate has always been at the top of my list** of potential best friend material should we ever be neighbors and should I ever suddenly become fabulous. I guess I'll settle for two degrees of separation and living in the same town. Bye, Kate. I hardly knew ye.

. . .

*I am telling you this now because their last day at camp was a couple of days ago.
** Also: Cat Deeley, Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon. They seem like they'd all be awesome girlfriends. Call me, gals! Who are your imaginary bffs?
***this photo has nothing to do with anything except I love it. Summer evenings. Sunflare. Those three.

Getting a move on

"The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer,
the top of the live-long year,
like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning."
--Katherine Paterson

I like that quote very much. Except, well, this is what the first week of August looks like at our house:

Not so top-of-the-ferris-wheel feeling, I assure you, but definitely cathartic, frazzling, and good. We are on day 2 of a 5-day pack and load process. In a severe test of my organizational abilities, all of our household goods had to be sorted into six sections: things going into storage, things going in the air shipment, things going in the sea shipment, things going with L to her apartment, things going with us in our suitcases for the next month, and a whole load of things we don't want anymore. We have alternated between resembling an episode of Hoarders and an episode of Storage Wars. (Please, come buy the junky contents of my garage right now! I'll give you everything for $1.)

And guess what? We have a signed purchase and sale agreement on our house, scheduled to close at the end of August. We're very grateful for the timing and the way things worked out. Whew.

Here's  one thing I've been wondering: what happened to my fight-or-flight response? Because I'm pretty sure that when I'm stressed I don't tend to want to fight through or high tail it & run away. I just want to curl up in a nice little fetal ball and have a nap. Apparently adrenaline is a sedative for me? That can't be evolutionarily wise, right? Fight, flight, or...fizzle?  

Lots to catch up on! More soon.