I can't believe it's another Monday already!  Well, I've committed to 10 Mondays of 10 favourite things, and this is only the second one, so I guess I better get on with it.  At the very least, along with making me reflect on just what makes me happy, this will also ensure that I post at least once a week!

Speaking of weeks, Jeremy will be home in just over two of them.  At times it has seemed very long...but now that it's getting closer to his return, it kind of like the time has flown by.  I've been trying to keep busy, but not excessively so.  This weekend ended up pretty jam packed and very fun.  Friday night I went over to Jules' place for curry and wine.  I was feeling a bit down in the dumps last week and she said curry and wine on a Friday would be sure to cheer me up, and it did :)  I had a little play with Billy T before he went off to bed, and then we stuffed ourselves with deliciousness!  Saturday morning, I met up with my friend Leanne (a physio student from Edmonton who stayed with J and I for a couple of weeks in 2010) and we packed up our bikes and drove out to the coast for an ocean side bike ride.  So awesome!  It was a beautiful day and we biked along the Wynnum-Manly foreshore.  We got fish and chips and sat by the water and watched all the yachts and sailboats heading out.  We also realized we must immediately make friends with someone who owns a boat!  Friday night I went for teppanyaki dinner with my friend Marion.  I worked at SpeechNet with Marion when she was a new grad and I hadn't even started doing speech pathology yet, and now she owns her own practice.  She is incredibly smart and business savvy and it's cool to have a friend like that who I can talk to about work - but who is also a fun and enjoyable person as well!  We wrapped up the evening with a cuppa at her place.  I was planning to head out to Jess' afterwards, since her cousin Kim was up on a surprise visit from Woolongong, but I got too absorbed in my tea drinking and conversation with Marion and it was past 10 pm when I left her place.  So, instead I went home and had a very comfortable sleep!!  That's not where the excitement ends, though!  Sunday was nice and lazy, except for when my housemate and I went to thy gym together and he worked me like a crazy fool!  In the afternoon, we hopped on a bus to the Gabba and met Alastair, his mother, Hannah, Kayleigh, and Jess to watch the last Brisbane Lion's game of the series.  It was fabulous as usual - but the Brisbane Lions absolutely TROUNCED the Western Bulldogs, so there wasn't as much yelling as I would have liked since Brisbane was leading by a huge amount for the entire game.  We then finished the evening with a Mexican dinner and a free game of foosball!!!

Alright, now that I've rambled on sufficiently (and made you jealous...come on, admit it - that is a pretty sweet weekend!!) I will move on to the task at hand:

Dresses - I am partial to polka dotted ones, but also enjoy a wide variety of other patterns and styles!

Jeremy's cooking - and I know quite a few other people who would say the same :)

Friends - and I even found good group pictures from both sides of the world!  Exhibit A - my 27th birthday party - Murder Mystery, to be exact (see previous 10 things that make me happy - "theme/costume parties").  Exhibit B - White water rafting on the Ottawa River...a good mix of friends and family.

 

Pub trivia!!  Jeremy and I used to play the electronic version at Whispers in Ottawa...and now our team, The Beavers, are the reigning champions at the Muddy Farmer in Brisbane (thanks to Sean and Louise turning up last week!!)  Soon, Jeremy will be back and I'm excited for trivia fun with him!

Karaoke, but only in trashy hilarious bars where people don't take themselves seriously.  Such as Puzzles, the place pictured above (RIP Puzzles)

Books!!!  Ever since I can remember, I have always enjoyed a good book.  I am lucky enough that I can read in vehicles so I've spent many hours doing that.  I made it through a whole English degree, which involved a lot of books.  But my favourite thing is really just to go to a library and take out a stack of books and read my way through them all.

A nice cup of tea (even better if there's a chat with a friend to go along with it!)

Waterfalls.  But seriously - who doesn't like waterfalls?

Shopping till I drop - literally!  This was after a successful Syracuse bargain shopping trip with some very fun girls - Tracee, Crystal and Kim (we even rode a mechanical bull).

Pinball.  If I go to a bar and there is a pinball machine inside, it is pretty much guaranteed that at some point I will make my way to it and then there will be a commotion - loud screaming and making faces similar to the one above.  Foosball is another game that is included in the same vein as this.

Now isn't that rewarding - thinking of all the things that make me happy and going down memory lane as I try and find pictures to capture the essence of these things!