fully pleasing

brainz.

2013-09-04T14:46:00.002-05:00

I am the right brain. I am creativity. A free spirit. I am passion. Yearning. Sensuality. I am the sound of roaring laughter. I am taste. The feeling of sand beneath bare feet. I am movement. Vivid colors. I am the urge to paint on an empty canvas. I am boundless imagination. Art. Poetry. I sense. I feel. I am everything I wanted to be.

what a beautiful ad.

next to me.

2013-08-29T13:27:00.003-05:00

This is just so lovely.

Huge sigh.

dust if you must

2013-08-27T11:00:00.000-05:00

this.

2013-08-23T10:31:00.001-05:00

"Meet a boy. Or a girl. Let them ask you on a date. Eat a meal, drink some wine. Tell them a few small things: the deets on your job, the name of your best friend. If you like them, let them walk you home. If you like them, hug them. Say yes when they ask if they can see you soon. Think of their hands til then. Their nose, their breath. Next time: ride some bikes; get ice cream cones. Walk in the park. Breathe in: the day, the trees, their words and their sweat. Lay in bed. If you like them touch their hand. If you like them, kiss them. Show them pics of the cat you had when you were a kid. Read them a page out loud from your all-time fave book. Tell them your fave dumb joke, let them see you laugh hard. If you still like them, take them to meet your mom, your dad. Your friends. Take them to the home you grew up in. Drive down a long road in the night. Play rock and roll, let them hear you sing. If you still like them, show them your heart. If you still like them, trust you are safe. Tell them what brings you joy, and pain. Tell them about your friends and fam who've died. Trust they will hear you. Trust they won't hurt you. This is a big part of deal: the light and the dark. Tell them "I love you". Let them help you heal. Make a choice, then take the next step. Say "bye" to your old life. Brunch with a book, a home of just your stuff. Choose a gem. Wash your face, wear a rose in your hair. Wear a white dress. Pick a date, storm or sun. Build a shrine to say "I do" next to, in front of friends and fam. Make a home. Make a fire. Buy their soap, brush your teeth side by side. Run them a warm salt bath. Watch them sleep. Make your bed. Make a child. Have faith, what you have is pure. No one can take it from you. Watch the days of your life fade and bloom. Thank the moon, the air, the sun. Be peace and faith; not fear and fight. Don't be scared. Where it is dark there are stars."

righteous.

2013-08-23T10:15:00.000-05:00

thinking about something new. that's all.

Your love.

2013-07-09T12:58:00.001-05:00

"Your love, sweeter than honey. Your love, stronger than death. Your love, lifts me of my burdens. Teaches me to dance."

Woah. Can't stop playing this song by United Pursuit Band.
http://youtu.be/IsREeLYJ0KQ

Mumford and Sons

2012-10-26T22:57:00.001-05:00

What an amazing concert.

Wow.

Found a girl in the Melbourne Au Pairs Facebook group who was wanting to go, so I messaged her and she just happened to be from Grimsby, Ontario :) haha such a small world! I bought tickets and Amie and I met up a week before the concert one night last week. We found out pretty quickly that we have pretty similar taste in music, so that was cool.

I picked up Amie and we drove to the train station and took the train to Flinders, grabbed some dinner at Grill'd...kinda like The Works at home, but with a ton of veggie burgers as well, which was nice for Amie cuz she's vegan...so much respect for her, wow, not sure I could ever do that!

Then we walked to Rod Laver Arena, about 20 minutes to get there. Even though our seats were at the very very top, we were still so pumped because it was like half the size of the Sky Dome, so we still had a great view. Apparently it seats 35,000, Volker told me.

And another incredibly exciting part was the opening band...Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes! How does that even happen?? And before they came on, was a guy named Willy Mason, who was also unreal. So much talent, could barely handle it.

And then Mumford and Sons. Gah. Just blown away by their real talent. They opened with "Lovers' Eyes" from their new album and it was just perfect.

Laura, the chef

2012-10-26T22:31:00.001-05:00

Sorry my blog has been so quiet lately!

Laura's parents were both busy, so they asked me if I'd like to go to her school and have her make me lunch for her school's "Healthy Restaurant" day. Of course! :) She had made a cute little hat and menu and had to take my order for what I'd like on my sandwich. It had cheese, ham, tomato (they say tuh-mah-to here), carrot, and cucumber. Not sure I'd ever had a sandwich quite like that before haha! Then we had some fruit for dessert. Her classroom is the cutest ever, like out of a movie :)

At the dog park

2012-10-10T01:54:00.001-05:00

You know I love a good dog park right? Hahaha well if you know me at all, then you know that's not exactly the case. And although the idea of about 20 dogs running around me at once used to scare the crap out of me, I actually enjoyed myself yesterday! So many friendly dogs and their owners. Laura and Nico did not want to leave!

this dog LOVED Nico

This dog was named Benny :)

Flower Arranging - Part 4

2012-10-09T20:05:00.002-05:00

Here's some photos from my fourth class. I think this arrangement is my favourite so far. Very festive and probably the easiest to complete!

Planetshakers & Melbourne at night

2012-10-04T00:16:00.002-05:00

Went into the city this past Sunday to go to Planetshakers with two friends from church, Dave and Angleo. Here's some photos from the afternoon/evening :)

Everywhere you look in Melbourne, there's art or something creative, I love that. I find that at times, major cities can all begin to look the same...but Melbourne stands out to me as being more artsy than other cities I've spent time in.

underground bathroom

planetshakers!

pretty famous "Gaol"... the old way of spelling "Jail"

Dave & Angelo re-enacting Australian history

so many delicious ciders in Australia!

state library?

such a great idea!

cool shopping centre in the middle of the city

train station :)

Flower Arranging - Part 2 & 3

2012-10-03T23:42:00.001-05:00

Hi there!

Here's a few photos I took at my last two flower arranging classes. The first was a European style arrangement, and the second an "A" or triangle design, a look which is a little bit outdated in my opinion, but there's always still lots to learn! Especially when it comes to wrapping them up and learning to tie bows and such.

Cottage in Angelsea - Part 2

2012-09-25T05:05:00.002-05:00

So Saturday, we had breakfast and then headed for Otway National Park for their rainforest treetop walk. I had no idea what to expect, but they had told me it would take about two hours to drive there. I was unfortunately in the back seat crammed in between two car seats. Although the Great Ocean Road is absolutely beautiful and has some of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen in my life, that trip is also the most carsick i have ever been. Google the Great Ocean Road and you will get an idea of what I mean, the windiest of roads. But again, SO breathtaking. We stopped a few times to get some fresh air and at times the views are how I imagine New Zealand to look. So lush and green, with sheep and cows on these majestic hillsides. Wow.

So we made it to the Treetop Adventure and had a quick lunch and then began our walk through the rainforest. I’m fairly certain this was my first rainforest experience. They’ve built these crazy steel walkways at treetop level, so you can walk through and experience the rainforest in a totally different way. At one part of the walk there was a spiral staircase built that you can climb even higher up, very cool. The lighting was a little tricky for photos, but i think these turned out alright.

Then we headed back another two hours, again the most carsick I’ve ever been. Couldn’t figure out if it was better to have my eyes closed or open...the worst. But again, saw some incredible views, so it ended up being worth it. That night and the rest of the weekend I just relaxed at the cottage and read. I’m almost finished “Captivating” by John and Stasi Eldredge for the second time. Honestly, it gets better each time I read it. It’s one of those books that I want to read like every couple years.

crazy architecture

pit stop

another pit stop

me & Bianca

pulled over the car for this view.

Cottage in Anglesea

2012-09-24T20:08:00.000-05:00

Before I arrived here, Bianca mentioned to me that we would spend a weekend in Anglesea, near the Great Ocean Road. Sounded good to me! Since the kids are now on a two week break from school (they have this between each term, and only 6 weeks off for christmas) we left Friday afternoon with the plan to stay until Monday sometime. I drove with Bianca and the dog. And Volker drove with the kids. It was nice to have some adult conversation for a while ;)

Arrived around 8pm after stopping to pick up some fresh fish and chips and fish souvlaki. The kids were already in bed, so us adults had champagne to celebrate Bianca’s birthday and a super delicious fish dinner. Went to bed early because I’m still adjusting to waking up at 7am every day haha...that’s just when I hear the kids...Bianca said they’re usually up at 5:30! And that it doesn’t matter how late they go to bed, they wake up early no matter what. UGH.

Here's some pictures of the "cottage" although you can barely call it that... super gorgeous.

Flower Arranging - Part 1

2012-09-24T18:57:00.000-05:00

Last week I was expressing to Bianca how I want to make the most of my time here, and how I’ve feeling a bit bored between 9am and 3pm while the kids are at school. She was immediately full of ideas, and sent me to redballoon.com. This site is full of “experiences” that you can buy. Right away the Flower Arranging and Design class caught my eye. There was an option for 1, 5, or 10 classes. So I went with 5, and it happened to be offered super close by in Cheltenham! So last Monday I had my first class :)

One of the coolest parts of the class was that the girl who was doing the same design as me happened to be Canadian. We had lots in common and talked through most of the time we were working on the arrangement. Too bad she only had one class as a gift! I honestly don’t remember most of the flower names, mainly because I had never heard of any before..most of them were Australian. But the lady who was instructing us passed around a bunch of handouts at the end that explained everything we did in further detail and the items we used. So every week I’ll work on a different design and I get to keep everything I make! It’s really fun so far, and it’s always kind of interested me. It’s nice to be able to have the time to do things like this that I’ve been curious about. Since then I’ve booked an indoor snowboard lesson and I’m probably gonna go for a half-day rock climbing experience as well...I’ll probably schedule it once it warms up a bit more. It’s such a cool way to try new things!

Brighton with new friends

2012-09-24T06:04:00.001-05:00

Bianca mentioned to me that her previous au pair used a Facebook group to meet other au pairs in the area. So I found it and requested to join, which actually took a while...maybe they had to do a background check? haha. Anyways, I saw a post from a girl named Pauline asking if anyone wanted to meet in Brighton for coffee on Sunday (this was last weekend). And at first I was kinda hesitant ‘cause I’ve never just agreed to meet up with complete strangers before! But, I’ve been realizing I just have to put myself out there and basically throw myself out of my comfort zone if I’m really going to get the most out of this trip. So, Bianca dropped me off in Brighton which is about 15 minutes from Sandringham and I met up with Pauline and another girl named Claire. Both of them ended up being from France. Pauline has been in Australia for only one week and is mainly au pairing to improve her English. Claire has been here for 2 months and although she was raised in France, both of her parents are English. She’s just out of high school and still deciding what she wants to do with her life. I assured her that it doesn’t matter how old you are, or what you go to school for, you can still end up in that situation ;)

We stopped at a cute little cafe and had sausage rolls (sausage without the casing, surrounded by puff pastry) and meat pie...very Australian. The meat pie was Thai chicken, and I actually really enjoyed it. I had had some at a party a few weeks ago and was NOT a fan, but this one redeemed them for me haha. We chatted about the ups and downs of au pairing. It was kind of nice to talk with people who are in the same situation as me. One of the girls made me feel especially grateful for the family I’m with and my situation as a whole, as she isn’t enjoying her time very much at all. It’s too bad :(

We browsed around some of the shops in Brighton and then Pauline suggested we walk down to Brighton Beach, and although I had already been, Claire hadn’t been to the beach much at all. She’s living in Mernda which isn’t really near much of anything, unfortunately. She was super pumped to have her toes in the sand. I realized I’m already taking the beach for granted! So we hung out there for a bit, and the sun came out. A nice man took a few photos for us; he was sitting in front of one of the beach boxes, which was actually open, so we asked him a bunch of questions about them. He said his friends own one and he is lucky enough to have a key. One beach box is worth about $200,000. Yes, that’s right. No running water or utilities, it’s basically a shed. Crazy! We chatted with him for a while and he told us all about the places he’s traveled, some near where the girls were from in France and even as far as Sudbury, Ontario. Again, making the world feel so so small.

Then we walked back to the town through one of the most gorgeous suburbs I’ve ever seen. Brighton is a very wealthy neighbourhood. Once we got back to the town, we decided it was time to eat again...classic Kaitlin right? We found a neat outdoor bistro, and although it was a tad chilly, it was nice to just be sitting after so much walking. We had milkshakes, chips (I still call them fries and always get made fun of) and a delicious baked chocolate pudding/lava cake type dessert. It was fabulous. Unreal actually. By the time we finished up there, it was time for Claire to begin her two hour journey back home...crazy. A bus, a train, and a super long walk for her. I had thought I would take the bus home, but then realized after the girls headed home that I had absolutely no idea where a bus station even was...again, I am incredibly challenged when it comes to direction if you didn’t know. It has taken me over a month to figure out how to get around Sandringham. So I walked home. Hahahaha it took me about two hours, but it wasn’t the end of the world! It’s just something that’s really new to me. Always living away from a bus route, I’ve pretty much driven everywhere. But, it’s a good experience to have! Let’s just say my feet were pretty tired by the time I got home.

;)

Photography by Nico

2012-09-20T23:34:00.001-05:00

Nico snagged my iPhone...

Exploring Melbourne

2012-09-13T06:10:00.000-05:00

I met a lovely girl named Jacinta at my church here and she volunteered to take me around Melbourne! We explored the Queen Victoria Market, walked to Federation Square, and saw lots of the city. I have the blisters to prove it haha. A super great day all around...thanks Jacinta! :)

Library

Chinatown

giant purse

Flinders Street Station

Federation Square

Eureka Skydeck

St. Paul's Cathedral

Federation Square

Victorian Arts Centre

Yarra River

Jacinta and I

Federation Square

super cool university

indoor rock climbing

will definitely be back here :)

The day-to-day

2012-09-05T20:02:00.003-05:00

Laura the monkey

her school reminds me of Africa

Will definitely be back here! "The Corner Store"

playing mom at a birthday party...

awkward beach photoshoot that i was creepin'

i laughed to myself

we like baking cookies :)

back at "The Corner Store"

one of the best sandwiches i've ever had.
mainly because of the fresh baked bread!

barely anyone here drives pick up trucks like at home.
only these weird ugly ones.

splurged a bit... but i'm obsessed with them.

Monash University

2012-09-04T18:52:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I dropped Bianca off at school and she encouraged me to wander around the school grounds. Um so glad I did! Although I haven't seen many university campuses, this one was absolutely stunning, the pictures don't even do it justice. So many grassy lawns and unique architecture. It also helped that it was a GORGEOUS day.

love me some graffiti!

2012-09-04T18:16:00.000-05:00

This skate park is right by the main shopping centre in Sandringham, so I've been admiring it for a while now. I wanted pictures, but needed to find a time when it wasn't overflowing with skate kids. 9am seemed like a good time, and it was...totally empty! :)

instagram

2012-09-04T04:46:00.006-05:00

if you're not on instagram, you can check out my feed here: http://web.stagram.com/n/kaitkub/

:)

Rewind four and a half months...

2012-09-03T06:27:00.001-05:00

Just stumbled upon a bunch of pictures from my trip to South Africa... they were taken on my phone, but never shared! LOVED reminiscing.

Enjoy :)

SO many wonderful moments under that tree :)

just bein' girls

said goodbye to these at the end of the trip.

Brighton Beach

2012-09-02T03:57:00.004-05:00

So I've been trying to find Brighton Beach for the past week, and then just randomly stumbled upon it today...I was so happy!

It's extremely beautiful and only about 15 minutes from "home" :)

I will definitely be back, especially when it gets warmer.

bride :)

feels kinda like Hollywood :)

Thanks Skype!

2012-09-02T03:34:00.001-05:00

Had a fun Skype sesh with a bunch of Stevens/Horsts today.
The highlight was the cool effects on Elaine's computer...

Miss you guys :)

Thanks for the laughs!