My Saturday

The gig we went to was actually a band competition and Drowned Cities came 2^nd! It’s really good but I have to point out that they got the most applause and  screams ;P After the competition we went to Hard Rock Cafe at Surfers Paradise (Gold Coast) for dinner with Grand and Laure (long time mates of Luke). It was good food as always but they could have played better background music. A couple next to us got engaged an hour before their dinner, but don’t really get why you would celebrate that at Hard Rock though :P

I had a lot of fun this weekend, and it’s not over yet. We are thinking of using the free cinema tickets tonight, but I have no idea what to watch. Not too many good movies at the cinemas lately so we’ll see.  Anyway Friday: Halloween, I loved dressing up as an emo Angel of death! Definitely dressing up as something dark next year as well! 

Halloween

As promised, here are some photos from last night’s Halloween Party! We made punch and snacks but unfortunately we don’t have any photos of that, but they were a big hit. As you will discover on these photos, there were some .... fun costumes! :D

 Luke and I.. Scary couple!

 Anna's a cow, and Ina the Witch doesn't look happy! :P
As for the next two, dont really have to explaine their costumes!

Dan the creepy sailor and his wife Astrid from some movie I haven't seen :P

 Scary bloody Dan with the Angel of death! :P

 It wasn't as bad as it looks, the knife is made out of plastic!

Gig at the Gold Coast tonight, Motel here I come:P haha

First day at work!

 I really enjoyed my first day at work today! It went great and I think I made a good impression on the Store Manager. I am confident in what I am doing, I ask if there’s something I’m wondering about and I always smile and focus on the costumer.  Didn’t really have any sales but as my first day this was not required of me anyway. I only worked for 4 hr and the manager gave me 4 other shift for the next two weeks, which is a good start. I really love working within retail and hope I can keep the job after January.

Also Luke and I won a competition we automatically entered when we opened our shared bank account. We won two cinema tickets a month for 12 months! Luke and I appreciate a good movie and we are in the cinema quit often, so this will save us some money! Awesome! First thing we have won, ever!

We are planning a Halloween Party for this Friday, so I bought some decorations today. Astrid is coming over tomorrow with some more decorations (which we get to borrow for a day :D )The photos are at the snack Ina and I will be making.  I’ll take heaps of photos at the party keeping you posted! :D

Loss of a family member.

It is hard to be away from my family, now more than ever. I got the news that my grandfather has passed away the 14^th of October. He was only in his 60’s but he has been ill for a long time. Growing up we were very close, he was my hero for a long time.  May his soul rest in peace. (Last photo taken of me and my grandfather)

It’s in time of grieve you understand how much you love and need your family, and in my case when I realize how far away they really are. I want nothing more than to be there right now. I sure am lucky though, to have such an understanding boyfriend to help me through it all. True love. 

Drowned Cities- Greenslopes

 Just wanted to share last weeks recording of Drowned Cities wut you guys! A Place for the wicked!
 I know it's a bit heavy but I like it :D



Not much going on here at the moment so don't have anything to tell you today.
Just watch the video and like it on YouTube  ;)

Different things =)

Life goes on here in Brisbane with Luke and Ina and everyone else, even though I’ll always be missing Dollie, my parents, my brothers and sisters and my friends back home. It is hard to move away from people you love and care about and not one day goes by without someone in Norway on my mind. But I am very happy here and I am sure you are happy for me.

Having a small pool on our veranda is great. I have only used it 2 times, but I love having the opportunity to cool down in the sun. Ina and I spend several hours in there one day, drinking “grownup soda” and listening to music. It was a great day but I did end up with a sunburn :P 

Since I got the job at SDS I haven’t been looking for one, meaning I have had very little to do. Ina stayed home from school some days and we watched Family Guy most of the time. It’s great when we are home alone, because we can do whatever we want to and we enjoy each other’s company :D I am really not looking forward to the 22th of Des when Ina leaves…

I also made a new healthy and colourful dish for Luke and me. It is chicken with potato, vegetables and chutney, and it tasted great. It is definitely one of our new recipes for our cooking book. Food doesn’t get better than healthy and delicious!

I had to buy a new phone yesterday, because mine wouldn’t charge anymore. I didn’t want to use a lot of money on one, as I don’t have much left so I went to Cash Converters and bought a used one. It works great and I am very happy with it, although I did like my old one (also my dad’s old one). Anyway my new one is a HTC LEGEND from last year =)

Luke’s band was playing live here in Greenslopes, and I recorded it again.  I’ll put a video up once it’s on youtube. I'll write soon =)

A Lawyer Visit

A couple of days ago Luke and I decided to see a lawyer about our situation, being in a de facto relationship applying for a partner visa. I just came back from our appointment and here is what we learned.

• A de facto relationship starts from the moment a couple starts living together as a married couple. This includes sharing bills, joint bank account and so on. This means that we will not be able to count the 4 months in Norway, so we have to apply august next year.
• I do not need to apply for a second year of Working Holiday Visa, as I can apply for working rights on a tourist visa.
• I do not need to leave Australia to get a tourist visa, I can simply go to the office and get one the day my working holiday visa expires.
• The government is very strict when it comes to the ONE YEAR de facto, so it is recommended to apply for a partner visa 1 – 2 weeks after we moved in together (that way there is no doubt that we have been a de facto for one year).
• We look great as a couple as I am from Norway and as we have been together almost 2 years when applying for the partner visa.
• It looks good that I am from Northern Europe and we will most likely go through the process without any complications.
• It does not look good to leave the country while being in a de facto but as long as we can prove that I am going to Norway for the operation on my ankle they will allow it.

So this is what we are going to do:

1. Talk to the lawyer again to see if we have all the evidence is in order.
2. Get a tourist visa next August.
3. Apply for working rights
4. Apply for a partner visa 1 – 2 weeks after 15^th of Aug.
5. Wait…! 

Life in Greenslopes

We have a lot of fun every day, and a lof of fun has happened since i wrote last.

Luke has decided that we need a calendar to write all our appointments and plans. I walked around trying to get one, but they don’t sell a calendar that expires in 3 months which is why I decided to make one. This is the result, and of course the photo is of my favourite thing in the whole wide world, Dollie <3 She is packed and ready to go wherever I need her to =)

We bought a pool. Ina and I have decided that it is too hot on our veranda and that we needed a pool to cool down. As a result we bought the pool as you see on the photo. We blew it up the old traditional way before we checked the security of it by planking in the pool. As you can see the pool has safe, soft edges but if planking with water inn you may drown. 

Ina has been waiting for this moment a long time and she didn’t want to leave the pool. She stayed in there for hours, watching a movie, eating grapes while being comfortable with her blanket, pillow and Mac.

Luke and I drove down to Miami Beach at the Gold Coast yesterday, to celebrate a birthday with some of his friends. We ended up being stuck in traffic as you can see on the photo. But luckily we had good music and great company (each other) :P The drive took an extra hour because a car crash not too far from here.

 Today I made dinner for Luke and me. I tried something different this time, as I am sick of eating the same each week. I made salmon with pasta, carrot, capsicum, fresh spinach and lemon. It tasted great and here’s a photo for our recipe book (which Luke is going to buy me soon ;) )  

I’ll write soon =)