Little Things that make me SMILE (Part 1)

Finding old notes from friends..

Finding $6 converse at the op shop- in my size!

My beautiful cat.

Experimenting with cooking. Lential Salad- Yum.

Beautiful sunsets.

Dreaming of you and me, waking up all alone, waking up so relieved..

I had a really disturbing dream early this week and I can't seem to shake it out of my mind. The subconscious has a weird way of working, that's for sure.

So here's the dream.

There was some sort of gathering/BBQ happening at my old house- family home. The only people I clearly remember being there was my brother Adam and the guy. It all seemed pretty chilled out and relaxed.

Everyone was outside and I was in the kitchen grabbing something. I turned around and the guy was right in front of me, he pushed me against the kitchen bench and told me he wanted to have sex with me and then cut me into pieces. He then kissed me and smiled.

I somehow had a moment to myself and I quickly grabbed a knife and ran to the bathroom to lock the door and hide.

Instantly, he turned up and forced the locked door open and asked me what I was doing. I'll leave out the graphics- but just say he started to sexually assault me, so I grabbed the knife I had hid up my top and shoved it into his arm. This was the part of the dream that was so real. I could feel the force of pushing the knife into his muscle and flesh, and then pulled it back out again. He simply smiled and said "You wouldn't dare do such a thing" and pulled out a much larger knife than the one I had.

I pushed past him and ran out the front door, straight to my next door neighbours. I banged on the door over and over, but nobody opened. Turn around and he is walking very casually in my direction.

When he got to me and grabbed my arm- I woke up.

It was so distinctly "him" in the dream- it was his voice, mannerism, face.. No room for question. Strange, that someone I have only met once, played such an intense role in my dream.

Post-It-Note Airport..

When heading to the States in July, I found myself with an 8 hour stop over at Sydney airport.

Instead of sitting around, twiddling my thumbs, I took some inspiration from fellow blogger- Colour Me Katie, and filled the airport with positive post-it-notes. It was thrilling to watch the cleaner come along, remove my note to clean the ATM, and then stick it straight back on!!

I stuck the notes in various places- vending machines, toilet doors, on items in the gift shops. I felt like a massive dork, and tried to do it 'stealthy' so nobody would notice what I was doing!

When the others finally showed up- I took them on a tour of my post-it-notes, finding the majority were still floating around some hours later.

The beauty of conversation...

On Sunday, I decided to venture from Coburg to Richmond to have lunch with Adz and Ez.

When arriving at the Coburg train station, I found I was 17 minutes early for the train (or perhaps a matter of minutes late for the previous one- but I am an optimist =) ).

I took a seat and started wishing I had brought my ipod along for the adventure. A young lady (Ange) then sat beside me and smiled. After I smiled politely back, she began a conversation with me, asking where I was headed, what I was up to and we found ourselves chatting until the train arrived.

The thing that startled me the most about this situation was my initial reaction and thoughts throughout the conversation. I wondered what she wanted, I even thought she might be a bit simple (choosing to talk to a stranger could be dangerous) and then I even thought she might be hitting on me. I know that sounds ridiculous. But why does anyone talk to a stranger without a hidden agenda?

But, her sheer friendliness and interest in other people has had me thinking a lot since our conversation. Mostly about human society and how much we keep to ourselves, rarely letting others in and VERY rarely making effort for strangers.

Why did I react the way I did? Why shouldn't we all take a leaf out of Ange's book? We would learn a lot more about others, meet a handful of new people every day and maybe just brighten someones day that little bit more.

5 day weekend

I'm taking a 5 day weekend and I'm pretty excited for it. I get to see some of my favourite people and visit some of my favourite places!

I'm starting today (Thursday) by travelling down the Hume Highway- singing to my Friday playlist.

Tonight will find me heading to watch the boys gig- where I will be catching up with old friends and my crazy cousin. This gig will probably follow with snuggles.

The rest of the actual weekend remains unplanned and I like it this way. Maybe a beach visit? Maybe head back this way for the jazz festival? No matter what we end up doing, I know it will be awesome. I'll upload some photos when I return from whatever adventure.

Due to my upcoming trip- I need to get serious about saving money.. so this means no races for me. What's everyone doing for Melb cup?

VOLUNTEERING IN VIETNAM!

So it's done!

The application has been sent. Will find out in 48 hours if I have been approved and if my dates fit in with their program! Fingers crossed!

I am so excited!

I will be teaching English in a Vietnamese High School while staying with a Vietnamese family.

Can't wait!!

Will most likely update this once my application has been processed!

What to do?

I really don't want to go. I feel a little out of the loop these days, I have the least in common and it is a little awkward hanging out with a bunch of couples on your own... I really want a weekend to myself- get the house clean, get on top of uni etc.

Now, wouldn't it be sweet if I could just say that?

My recent honesty has been working well- yet, in this case, I know I'm dealing with some sensitive personalities, and I do value them as friends.

Do I-

a.) attend, feeling uncomfortable and miss out on getting some rest and much needed work done to make the others happy?

b.) Say exactly what I have written

or

c.) ???????