tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74987537236310982562024-03-21T15:43:48.513-05:00Shanks Down UnderVictoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07678821253355157179noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7498753723631098256.post-21813091279609165172013-11-07T22:46:00.000-06:002013-11-07T22:48:47.706-06:00Simple Gifts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sometimes, I have one of those days. You know, a frazzled, frustrated, tired day. A day when it occurs to me that I'm not losing my baby weight fast enough, when my face breaks out, when I can't seem to put on an outfit that looks even halfway decent, a day where it seems like I just can't manage to do all the chores I need to, when the baby's diaper leaks onto three (or more) different outfits, and she won't stop crying, a day when I can't even find the energy to be sweet and loving to my husband. This past week I've had not just one of those days, but several, and today was shaping up to be another one.<br />
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This afternoon changed that, at least for a little while. I headed to the library, not because I really wanted to (I actually thought is was kind of a hassle), but just because I'd been meaning to go and I knew I'd regret not going when I didn't have a book to read tonight. I trudged there, thinking I'd just run in, grab a couple of books, and get home as quickly as possible. Instead, I fell down the rabbit hole of browsing bookshelves, a pleasure I haven't had for a while, since when we lived in Birmingham I rarely went to the library, due to its inconvenient location. But today, I wandered the shelves, picking up books at random that caught my eye, filling my bag with all sorts of interesting-looking titles. For a book lover, there's nothing like being among them, discovering new ones, and marveling at the sheer vastness of topics to learn about and stories to experience. When I left the library, I was in a much better mood, and as I enjoyed my walk in the cool spring drizzle down lovely Rathdowne Street, I began to remember all the other things in my life that make the frustrating days worthwhile.<br />
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I live abroad (a longtime dream of mine) in a city that seems to get more interesting by the day, in a neighborhood that I simply adore. There are days here in our little part of Carlton North that I feel like this place must have been designed from my ideas of a perfect place to live. Beautiful, historic buildings everywhere you turn, all the things we could ever need within easy walking distance, flowers and trees and adorable cafes...I could go on and on. I live in a charming, historic little terrace with a garden overflowing with flowers and herbs, and a kind and loving husband who goes out of his way to be kind to me even when I'm not that way to him, and a beautiful baby daughter who smiles at me more every day. Actually, when I thought about it, I realized that, at the age of 24, I've been blessed to have basically everything I ever dreamed about come true. I don't know why God has chosen to give someone as imperfect as me all these beautiful blessings, but I am so grateful to Him for it.<br />
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When I got home this afternoon, I turned on an album of instrumental hymns I discovered on Spotify a couple of weeks ago, thinking their simple melodies would suit the soothing sound of the rain outside. The first song that played was "Simple Gifts" and its lyrics suit my thoughts this afternoon perfectly.<br />
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<dl><dd>'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free
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<dl><dd>'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,</dd></dl>
</dd><dd>And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
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<dl><dd>'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.</dd></dl>
</dd><dd>When true simplicity is gain'd,
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<dl><dd>To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,</dd></dl>
</dd><dd>To turn, turn will be our delight,
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<dl><dd>Till by turning, turning we come 'round right.</dd></dl>
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So today I'm thankful for all the simple gifts in my life. I am so blessed and so happy, and I'm glad this afternoon reminded me of that.<br />
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Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07678821253355157179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7498753723631098256.post-62672527076907030522013-09-12T20:21:00.002-05:002013-09-12T20:21:38.905-05:00Home ImprovementsWell, we are officially in the waiting period for Baby Shank...technically it could be any time now! I must say, it's very hard to wait patiently...I'm very ready to have this whole labor thing over with and meet our baby! Also, due to being a bit uncomfortable (and to knowing I could go into labor at pretty much any time), I've stopped running errands and stuff on my own without Daniel, and I've been trying to not get too far from home, so I spend a lot of my time at home...so today writing a blog post sounded like a good idea to fill some time! :)<br />
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Of course, I don't stay at home ALL the time...Daniel makes sure I get outside to walk some every day, and we're still trying out all the yummy places to eat that we have near us. This morning we went back to the French bakery that's down the road from us to try their quiche for breakfast...it was excellent! And yesterday, since Daniel was working from home, we took a nice break to walk a couple of streets over for a yummy bakery treat, intending to try a different French bakery that is over that way. But when we passed the Italian bakery we'd been to a couple of weeks ago that we loved, we were too tempted by their scrumptious looking chocolate pastries in the window and ended up stopping there instead. We brought them home and had pastries and coffee in our garden :)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seriously, who could resist these? (The round one on the left is a rum ball...the other I didn't catch the name of, but it was a lovely moist chocolate cake covered in rich chocolate frosting)</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Anyway, in other news, we've been making some improvements around the terrace since the last time I posted.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Like curtains! We love these purple ones in our main room.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And green ones in the kitchen</td></tr>
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And we've added to our plant collection a bit more, and also started to repot some of the plants we've gotten.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love our violas in these hanging planters we've hung at the front of the house.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More violas in our bedroom windowsill</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of our other plants awaiting repotting</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Main room and kitchen windowsill</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The back area of the garden...we do intend to get actual nice looking furniture back here at some point, but for now these three pieces we've found around the neighborhood for free are serving us all right :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our little cyclamen is doing well :)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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And perhaps most importantly in house improvements, we've finally gotten the nursery mostly finished!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The wardrobe</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu6cl_qKSz8S17JOvIO4aG5HW-1x0zF710AHKBIA0DFv4NMi8UJiU-eBILmeggD7hWtjnsjLPExBJ95wahZj1kBZImeuO1qg7iXVaWRq038-K33tziVjx9fF64tjtkcUoUiGo8DYGHsZQ/s1600/DSCI1534.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu6cl_qKSz8S17JOvIO4aG5HW-1x0zF710AHKBIA0DFv4NMi8UJiU-eBILmeggD7hWtjnsjLPExBJ95wahZj1kBZImeuO1qg7iXVaWRq038-K33tziVjx9fF64tjtkcUoUiGo8DYGHsZQ/s320/DSCI1534.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We're going to put pictures in the frame from the newborn session we'll be doing once baby is here.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaibR-Lvyqu1w90dSqyRZ2SS3nJI7sbe7JojA8boZsUCqZUBHwLvg5IwXcuCt9Kg6k22M9l8N2YHoUNpY6ObfHy7r35iW3OodZXD4iAwc3u_-BwiwNeFfBx7RaS1qLcVM9dkSpGMOCWgI/s1600/DSCI1528.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaibR-Lvyqu1w90dSqyRZ2SS3nJI7sbe7JojA8boZsUCqZUBHwLvg5IwXcuCt9Kg6k22M9l8N2YHoUNpY6ObfHy7r35iW3OodZXD4iAwc3u_-BwiwNeFfBx7RaS1qLcVM9dkSpGMOCWgI/s320/DSCI1528.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The fireplace...the chair is just a stand in until we find a chair we really like for this space.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmwjTcwbvCwYjnNN__3FweyAiDDvUocYYQhVdUNw85YSWxHkHaxO8lU8gIwbkK2G8_NKHxTpyaTD2PSApScrIWgB4rI8ft7HbdwmsSAKhavY7-P16Uvw-69gfqrN7U6xU1iezEDwkXZFg/s1600/DSCI1529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmwjTcwbvCwYjnNN__3FweyAiDDvUocYYQhVdUNw85YSWxHkHaxO8lU8gIwbkK2G8_NKHxTpyaTD2PSApScrIWgB4rI8ft7HbdwmsSAKhavY7-P16Uvw-69gfqrN7U6xU1iezEDwkXZFg/s320/DSCI1529.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yay for pennants! :)</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggd15Zxm6yc_SBFkozi0wHncF3R9ihD0YH8Eq3hUqti9-HT1H7GHjKIcCqgRkA8VqzFeNetyrGbpNAFqaEgBJXQM6XP1yegR0odWvzcAu5AI_dqMOCLtjF3YWzTqI6fgBp3sXT-P8LVkk/s1600/DSCI1533.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggd15Zxm6yc_SBFkozi0wHncF3R9ihD0YH8Eq3hUqti9-HT1H7GHjKIcCqgRkA8VqzFeNetyrGbpNAFqaEgBJXQM6XP1yegR0odWvzcAu5AI_dqMOCLtjF3YWzTqI6fgBp3sXT-P8LVkk/s320/DSCI1533.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All the little friends waiting for baby!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4PYa6JapVq4DdiY_EHdsRQvLZKo1ArTAnyhEk0eufOGIIeEUaW7amPtLfxGj7Qjl1NosHu1sN80BuyuyHwvxj6GjFaLnTofPNxe1OEk9mTuH1SiI00XJ3pFGoLEl-bvdc1Ys9TrnwWho/s1600/DSCI1535.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4PYa6JapVq4DdiY_EHdsRQvLZKo1ArTAnyhEk0eufOGIIeEUaW7amPtLfxGj7Qjl1NosHu1sN80BuyuyHwvxj6GjFaLnTofPNxe1OEk9mTuH1SiI00XJ3pFGoLEl-bvdc1Ys9TrnwWho/s320/DSCI1535.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Changing table...see all the diapers ready and waiting? :)</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTFdkmeoNVqx4p4jhJ-vH11YtxSUr8dtac9IOz7xkTvR2IVEKFhk9mBidm1H-BotMvMEz26QEbA8tO7m3AYCTNttZaPYHRYdG8MqgeoqyxV4M0kteDdRlKyvp8CoVLTHt6dAV_pMaCay4/s1600/DSCI1530.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTFdkmeoNVqx4p4jhJ-vH11YtxSUr8dtac9IOz7xkTvR2IVEKFhk9mBidm1H-BotMvMEz26QEbA8tO7m3AYCTNttZaPYHRYdG8MqgeoqyxV4M0kteDdRlKyvp8CoVLTHt6dAV_pMaCay4/s320/DSCI1530.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The crib (in the center of the room as you enter). The big green thing to the left is our pram.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ9Lf-V9eTavgMBvoAWium6YYm8frOthuPunGK6rd3I8bHcmJ4nlTw0F-K3kWSPZX97ZHzFquAav0j-COrqyMPSduWZpp2xZYaQlu1ockWyiowHIdO3RC8ZXYbNYalXjKghiPYusWszu8/s1600/DSCI1531.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ9Lf-V9eTavgMBvoAWium6YYm8frOthuPunGK6rd3I8bHcmJ4nlTw0F-K3kWSPZX97ZHzFquAav0j-COrqyMPSduWZpp2xZYaQlu1ockWyiowHIdO3RC8ZXYbNYalXjKghiPYusWszu8/s320/DSCI1531.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The decorations above the crib...fun floral animal art, and a beautiful dress made for baby by Mrs. Eva Hargett. I couldn't stand to put it away because it was too pretty. so I'm glad we found a way to display it.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8XzeyDu8bmmbKSmCLTAaLE3KoYNwgZj1YzRK2judxQj3Uk3dqotI83eCJfqvgl99uXPcxyT-GDWXS68dTdYbgX9dHKn13NqpHvir1KKsnp5DtzePx7tNJWQf8jH13oNjvlfVcQPe47Qc/s1600/DSCI1536.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8XzeyDu8bmmbKSmCLTAaLE3KoYNwgZj1YzRK2judxQj3Uk3dqotI83eCJfqvgl99uXPcxyT-GDWXS68dTdYbgX9dHKn13NqpHvir1KKsnp5DtzePx7tNJWQf8jH13oNjvlfVcQPe47Qc/s320/DSCI1536.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our pram...some of our sweet friends at church had a neighbor looking for someone to give this too, so they got it for us. It's a real European pram, made in Sweden. We're looking forward to going for neighborhood strolls with it!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So there's a bit of what we've been up to lately...hopefully our next post will be introducing you to Shankhall Terrace's newest little addition!<br />
<br />
~VictoriaVictoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07678821253355157179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7498753723631098256.post-81618706808761781172013-08-27T22:06:00.003-05:002013-08-27T22:07:08.575-05:00The Shanks of Shankhall Terrace<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
So finally, as promised, here's a tour of our terrace! (Oh, and about the name in the title...lots of the terraces in Melbourne have names written on them from when they were built. Ours didn't, but we thought it'd be fun to name it, and the only thing we seem to be able to come up with is Shankhall...so Shankhall Terrace it is!) :D </div>
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Also, these photos were taken at different times, not all at once, so there are some slight variations in placements of things if they got moved between the time we took one photo and the time of another.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ7S7REXSKyylsQOBRzy-JzZITPde2gVfUrM24IbH-rAG6yIjj-00Csl1jJYXfvI8l89IzHP1sGdh5SLmtBP0ssWM9Na3Q3Ax3lGxMGN5XyD04OytkyVg9F8zyNqwEDLDfV5utsqWPhyA/s1600/DSCI1333.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ7S7REXSKyylsQOBRzy-JzZITPde2gVfUrM24IbH-rAG6yIjj-00Csl1jJYXfvI8l89IzHP1sGdh5SLmtBP0ssWM9Na3Q3Ax3lGxMGN5XyD04OytkyVg9F8zyNqwEDLDfV5utsqWPhyA/s320/DSCI1333.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our house is the one in the middle, behind the silver car</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ZL0WaBZct1Or0JYwLrIp3dDrRtE8uJWU2ugZIshiwtm8RE92YKdlj3A_rY9UuR31rf8U5DDoTbc-uihxWhbXyEvmHTJRkWnuCAFHYM-LUZt1vsikWtgBgnZBULuF7LmsO5knMx8vu3Q/s1600/DSCI1332.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ZL0WaBZct1Or0JYwLrIp3dDrRtE8uJWU2ugZIshiwtm8RE92YKdlj3A_rY9UuR31rf8U5DDoTbc-uihxWhbXyEvmHTJRkWnuCAFHYM-LUZt1vsikWtgBgnZBULuF7LmsO5knMx8vu3Q/s320/DSCI1332.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our front door and porch area</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhukPNPwNrsBwabeLZP5WdozpY4XgH8HFNE_IVqwgDauJsZfgQCM4MPMJHSfcrS4-l0BtviKtLQqNpiavT6O11xtRMzVQ0Y-P7mJW33hTNdVNnkpypSah5_jmiehQLWCFrfI64r-erQUVg/s1600/DSCI1334.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhukPNPwNrsBwabeLZP5WdozpY4XgH8HFNE_IVqwgDauJsZfgQCM4MPMJHSfcrS4-l0BtviKtLQqNpiavT6O11xtRMzVQ0Y-P7mJW33hTNdVNnkpypSah5_jmiehQLWCFrfI64r-erQUVg/s1600/DSCI1334.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhukPNPwNrsBwabeLZP5WdozpY4XgH8HFNE_IVqwgDauJsZfgQCM4MPMJHSfcrS4-l0BtviKtLQqNpiavT6O11xtRMzVQ0Y-P7mJW33hTNdVNnkpypSah5_jmiehQLWCFrfI64r-erQUVg/s320/DSCI1334.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our front gate</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZruPbjgZXFOEyhA5t6T71QsI1ofN9YqOd3imxPECcPBmYq79NSsAa2TJwYFD60hNq-CwyMqZ7p_BNcCPM5cJTXtH0Oyr-LGU_yETJD5edgfi49VPpTJAH669jGtEbfb1KG_3Vg0eQFaY/s1600/DSCI1410.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZruPbjgZXFOEyhA5t6T71QsI1ofN9YqOd3imxPECcPBmYq79NSsAa2TJwYFD60hNq-CwyMqZ7p_BNcCPM5cJTXtH0Oyr-LGU_yETJD5edgfi49VPpTJAH669jGtEbfb1KG_3Vg0eQFaY/s320/DSCI1410.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Coming in the front door</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhukPNPwNrsBwabeLZP5WdozpY4XgH8HFNE_IVqwgDauJsZfgQCM4MPMJHSfcrS4-l0BtviKtLQqNpiavT6O11xtRMzVQ0Y-P7mJW33hTNdVNnkpypSah5_jmiehQLWCFrfI64r-erQUVg/s1600/DSCI1334.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU268HwjQ7v4TgcCA2yx0mGwtIIB1a3y7bFATwNxVPwffHnDbwgLPa5YrCc-qNlMrmknn3sZehLHsj5dnm4HIn20lGb_bSAYceN7byLgc64PHRkZ9yocYOljhhFEwjs_I1C6DTkHHhJqk/s1600/DSCI1510.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU268HwjQ7v4TgcCA2yx0mGwtIIB1a3y7bFATwNxVPwffHnDbwgLPa5YrCc-qNlMrmknn3sZehLHsj5dnm4HIn20lGb_bSAYceN7byLgc64PHRkZ9yocYOljhhFEwjs_I1C6DTkHHhJqk/s320/DSCI1510.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The main hallway</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnuu2dkXbbldovyPJR-rf18ZWY4SGGbN3sOd1BvnR6BpZj6Y5jHHVQQST2dW2DH5l5qA0Ixpa0OzvbhYtge4ZNKvUOVOKUlZjz_wYnUboidNlBKdoeNEulyeM4u59b9EQQDR9JtWDg6Ig/s1600/DSCI1503.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnuu2dkXbbldovyPJR-rf18ZWY4SGGbN3sOd1BvnR6BpZj6Y5jHHVQQST2dW2DH5l5qA0Ixpa0OzvbhYtge4ZNKvUOVOKUlZjz_wYnUboidNlBKdoeNEulyeM4u59b9EQQDR9JtWDg6Ig/s320/DSCI1503.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If you take your first left after coming in the front door, you're in the nursery, which is still very much a work in progress. For example, we are hoping to find a chair to put where the bassinet is now, and the room needs some more decor. But it's functional now, which is good!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAsU6FHd1m1733idRXSwsZ1embfj6lHjAA6cNWx5AexK4xGMJ-c8rtaST0FiIcDw7-iKi5dImvdncr0PX0VYel-uBodghx47Z8iKoPrlcb0Aph6l-MhrVoOja9BN_2MbBKbo9OB3b6czA/s1600/DSCI1505.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAsU6FHd1m1733idRXSwsZ1embfj6lHjAA6cNWx5AexK4xGMJ-c8rtaST0FiIcDw7-iKi5dImvdncr0PX0VYel-uBodghx47Z8iKoPrlcb0Aph6l-MhrVoOja9BN_2MbBKbo9OB3b6czA/s320/DSCI1505.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fireplace in the nursery</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDdI7qfNQzAeLLMK_tFus4I7967aR1D4MmOnwkoV-3EdYkqC_rqAxMd0f4uiHZmZS19sqhU_ZLaxArCobn_7JIS8_Hmknl-hXPNKo6CDT-uXII5pm8BiwZnUhIzCjVQqSeRfH0mil-6B4/s1600/DSCI1506.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDdI7qfNQzAeLLMK_tFus4I7967aR1D4MmOnwkoV-3EdYkqC_rqAxMd0f4uiHZmZS19sqhU_ZLaxArCobn_7JIS8_Hmknl-hXPNKo6CDT-uXII5pm8BiwZnUhIzCjVQqSeRfH0mil-6B4/s320/DSCI1506.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Changing table beside the fireplace</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwFOFnEl58p8t3audKWBRx_27rh476tiuxFLFiwMy94tUyewAYh6ESGIVFjWouLraWS9PDGyZCWKUDANmYBSxlMY6XNchNaAso3Y8m6RHLzns41l275tJ-pl7L4Ekd-82CU_BvVAuv2oM/s1600/DSCI1507.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwFOFnEl58p8t3audKWBRx_27rh476tiuxFLFiwMy94tUyewAYh6ESGIVFjWouLraWS9PDGyZCWKUDANmYBSxlMY6XNchNaAso3Y8m6RHLzns41l275tJ-pl7L4Ekd-82CU_BvVAuv2oM/s320/DSCI1507.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wardrobe across from the crib (We have no built in closets, so we had to find wardrobes to keep our stuff in)</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0f27uT4uGN1yDjgoBKRJrCatVmwIyxe2AQ6EqZVzOQnniAEj9W4aRznkfLElUoIFLFXrAIG60VpsW8-0eQn1648xon3QyYI5-oQqllaiwlv_8tAu4gF5ve3PNGQ9h-ABDIV38gsn9ZAg/s1600/DSCI1513.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0f27uT4uGN1yDjgoBKRJrCatVmwIyxe2AQ6EqZVzOQnniAEj9W4aRznkfLElUoIFLFXrAIG60VpsW8-0eQn1648xon3QyYI5-oQqllaiwlv_8tAu4gF5ve3PNGQ9h-ABDIV38gsn9ZAg/s320/DSCI1513.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If you leave the nursery and take your next left in the hallway, you'll be in our bedroom. This is our chest of drawers, to the right of the bedroom door as you enter.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf5SzFr3kXXdFm4KQi8h4L51XcfuKoIRxET8jWWKjpbeTf-CpjAEOMtAP_qthCA2wmq5EtbBANXBn-VvxYCuymII0AiUCsEaeoKCTIdzd-Was7O6islEroRpE-Q7ReAWlqkeIAaUPuPKk/s1600/DSCI1415.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf5SzFr3kXXdFm4KQi8h4L51XcfuKoIRxET8jWWKjpbeTf-CpjAEOMtAP_qthCA2wmq5EtbBANXBn-VvxYCuymII0AiUCsEaeoKCTIdzd-Was7O6islEroRpE-Q7ReAWlqkeIAaUPuPKk/s320/DSCI1415.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our bed</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwcJatzZvdx9EzMRcX6bRhmbDcQET-f1P3uyEq3uU7FCzNMD01oSz70djTR5Mo-xAkFK1zkPPFu_oqbF2qb74dYmJ92eBy9fEem2eQ2iF3_7GrpWn9ODj8Iei6Cv7FdYm7TflYh9Zi-7k/s1600/DSCI1416.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwcJatzZvdx9EzMRcX6bRhmbDcQET-f1P3uyEq3uU7FCzNMD01oSz70djTR5Mo-xAkFK1zkPPFu_oqbF2qb74dYmJ92eBy9fEem2eQ2iF3_7GrpWn9ODj8Iei6Cv7FdYm7TflYh9Zi-7k/s320/DSCI1416.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our bed and the wardrobe beside it</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtQB-oaLv_d4rXlhETbM-eODZ52pWffIT7sCO6TIk2t7C4ZRpoQ2MlMHeTnByvgekZN6axyWeDjggPTM6Ibti3FeOPuDPYFI2lzFbPgx9HWv8bm-fBRqDUiBpIsoQIumRAhrxzW9__fTE/s1600/DSCI1291.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtQB-oaLv_d4rXlhETbM-eODZ52pWffIT7sCO6TIk2t7C4ZRpoQ2MlMHeTnByvgekZN6axyWeDjggPTM6Ibti3FeOPuDPYFI2lzFbPgx9HWv8bm-fBRqDUiBpIsoQIumRAhrxzW9__fTE/s320/DSCI1291.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ceiling light in our bedroom</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji13r-2C3zsdGxbFdzGN6PySM8TPWWEQqdd6A7DjfMFfDO60km-NW-J3myJTm4FOQPFGEH4In1wLp7qrMzuamm7-hGreKucFQSSewUqDvPSDKPN5usAaidOu26LVe3uppXn2Eu7rW5CFc/s1600/DSCI1293.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji13r-2C3zsdGxbFdzGN6PySM8TPWWEQqdd6A7DjfMFfDO60km-NW-J3myJTm4FOQPFGEH4In1wLp7qrMzuamm7-hGreKucFQSSewUqDvPSDKPN5usAaidOu26LVe3uppXn2Eu7rW5CFc/s320/DSCI1293.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our bedroom window looks out on the garden.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCEt_5s2N6k63PQjUHD0fHCzeQZCEGKVUJk4fEkCC-1_BS4geG2wiowfmTfzHczRSTD3zmzAl6iCjAk-eVxt3az3nFH0Ig06HDs7wpjx6TorTEYr86qYHzzC8mDIGy7QFl4BN4yoxmz1g/s1600/DSCI1419.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCEt_5s2N6k63PQjUHD0fHCzeQZCEGKVUJk4fEkCC-1_BS4geG2wiowfmTfzHczRSTD3zmzAl6iCjAk-eVxt3az3nFH0Ig06HDs7wpjx6TorTEYr86qYHzzC8mDIGy7QFl4BN4yoxmz1g/s320/DSCI1419.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If you leave the bedroom and go to the end of the hall, you are in our main room.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHePZ_PvUEpZ7uVCbVEj3szy2-WW5SCLeZA55W9lJWcbBBM2xZbGgGWOEvXplzGpO7l_RF8E1THwJcwnY9Qoj8fEDO3tTDWlgTJg9fAQkUR8LTm8t90KlVLCWmSEJ9Wddud8-kKIF11MQ/s1600/DSCI1420.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHePZ_PvUEpZ7uVCbVEj3szy2-WW5SCLeZA55W9lJWcbBBM2xZbGgGWOEvXplzGpO7l_RF8E1THwJcwnY9Qoj8fEDO3tTDWlgTJg9fAQkUR8LTm8t90KlVLCWmSEJ9Wddud8-kKIF11MQ/s320/DSCI1420.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our chairs</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht5IRjZGeMpw_jaS6dNrz0eu9qIPG6ttMyxw5YjeWI70XwaYo1_pugr9ATfXkZz8oiGcxzYAeefDnmdMyewQ68pYN5aZtxnU3J1MXjrFJekw8DEWcQPTuDgRGvE-BEh_vQpLjkfrR7bmM/s1600/DSCI1421.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht5IRjZGeMpw_jaS6dNrz0eu9qIPG6ttMyxw5YjeWI70XwaYo1_pugr9ATfXkZz8oiGcxzYAeefDnmdMyewQ68pYN5aZtxnU3J1MXjrFJekw8DEWcQPTuDgRGvE-BEh_vQpLjkfrR7bmM/s320/DSCI1421.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The heater and mantel</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLTu1zM1CF8LNlIhU11WzRIWRZ9o_xLgI69R7R3sQKAVe3sFTiaf3tSkHa3CU2Tf0MTKEom9_SW-fx4ovSnC0gnry1KeU1CncSr8quA_XrLgWUTd_dW3e0Rq1bo0UGDIaepLAAa5YS1d8/s1600/DSCI1424.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLTu1zM1CF8LNlIhU11WzRIWRZ9o_xLgI69R7R3sQKAVe3sFTiaf3tSkHa3CU2Tf0MTKEom9_SW-fx4ovSnC0gnry1KeU1CncSr8quA_XrLgWUTd_dW3e0Rq1bo0UGDIaepLAAa5YS1d8/s320/DSCI1424.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The built in bookcase next to the mantel</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWGaW_zNS07OPCsHzxOu7hPSftRF7pX4gRs_OXUxaA50d0vdxdNsSZhrq0AzziEGfUmErIEefunqH36JI46R6-z3zAjd8leXm5rjmfuxzvUFxJt5hFC_A_txJCOWizanayFeqxcobrn9I/s1600/DSCI1423.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWGaW_zNS07OPCsHzxOu7hPSftRF7pX4gRs_OXUxaA50d0vdxdNsSZhrq0AzziEGfUmErIEefunqH36JI46R6-z3zAjd8leXm5rjmfuxzvUFxJt5hFC_A_txJCOWizanayFeqxcobrn9I/s320/DSCI1423.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our really large bookcase, across from the mantel. You can also see the side door to the garden. The tables folded up next to the door are our all purpose tables...we use them to eat on or work on our laptops while we are in our chairs, because we don't have any space to put a dining table anywhere in the house.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirJEhBE_4ALNwGm1v7LQIkppT68bL0MHH5sDBMUqc32ScZkpnoiCeY3enehs_o_apvAhYo7ID3Ne1lTf_cBxEWC9vp7l0BFF4pqH6SQI3FZgh0uemjO0yOsAIMsIzDXS0psc-Q1y3Y2DQ/s1600/DSCI1426.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirJEhBE_4ALNwGm1v7LQIkppT68bL0MHH5sDBMUqc32ScZkpnoiCeY3enehs_o_apvAhYo7ID3Ne1lTf_cBxEWC9vp7l0BFF4pqH6SQI3FZgh0uemjO0yOsAIMsIzDXS0psc-Q1y3Y2DQ/s320/DSCI1426.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Go through the main room and you come to the kitchen</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGCKEXKRDCqjFKF2hIAeed_n5MgLoj57gDZ2gBsiWRXbSa_Y4HUo6fzmJ8mvBsDqVuV10vVHKmdwbohdbNY3-drL2E5l5Rf6EM70ovXce2aZk-bl5ub0ZKd6s4ZbL8mndCLe2C1IvzhIM/s1600/DSCI1427.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGCKEXKRDCqjFKF2hIAeed_n5MgLoj57gDZ2gBsiWRXbSa_Y4HUo6fzmJ8mvBsDqVuV10vVHKmdwbohdbNY3-drL2E5l5Rf6EM70ovXce2aZk-bl5ub0ZKd6s4ZbL8mndCLe2C1IvzhIM/s320/DSCI1427.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiamspc-qfYM3iOsEImkaYoGXbBkctTlDdLkj6MECIn5Xbzy3wV6gT7-fbd7BXKhq0fUC1gW2bMmIQBDW8kEOvS3vHS6I3DNdMjrOWUyMDmj9bjAEkqzYYCBvCjpLYm58TGzG1i2mbQINU/s1600/DSCI1515.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiamspc-qfYM3iOsEImkaYoGXbBkctTlDdLkj6MECIn5Xbzy3wV6gT7-fbd7BXKhq0fUC1gW2bMmIQBDW8kEOvS3vHS6I3DNdMjrOWUyMDmj9bjAEkqzYYCBvCjpLYm58TGzG1i2mbQINU/s320/DSCI1515.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kitchen window (with plants in the sill...Daniel decided to keep them there until I find a pot to repot them all in)</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgH4nL8Y8LZ9xBAIGnNMrxYE03yveJyQLCNJtQbGtKK-6SVuuv8CRA9wtjd2Ot2_EkjCHOWC5zjeaWiwNOkRKucUwEASfmZcDFrM4T6ucjYpWBcwE1i2m2LKNyljF9nmXirDDJKStANHU/s1600/DSCI1429.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgH4nL8Y8LZ9xBAIGnNMrxYE03yveJyQLCNJtQbGtKK-6SVuuv8CRA9wtjd2Ot2_EkjCHOWC5zjeaWiwNOkRKucUwEASfmZcDFrM4T6ucjYpWBcwE1i2m2LKNyljF9nmXirDDJKStANHU/s320/DSCI1429.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Door between the kitchen and laundry room </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisM0XQBdZhqDAkCkIKq2kzLlQtDc7L_lYkqKbh1-2Xv4aFMAS8Rzn6Wju-kVeEoqnUjOSFO63bU6Ba7oi_LQFzgeK2K0M9xP96QXl-7Dy3kB1dM0ZK1gcbmdhcUHjYMfeXE6eRra0nch4/s1600/DSCI1430.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisM0XQBdZhqDAkCkIKq2kzLlQtDc7L_lYkqKbh1-2Xv4aFMAS8Rzn6Wju-kVeEoqnUjOSFO63bU6Ba7oi_LQFzgeK2K0M9xP96QXl-7Dy3kB1dM0ZK1gcbmdhcUHjYMfeXE6eRra0nch4/s320/DSCI1430.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Laundry room...right now we don't have a washer, so we just keep miscellaneous things in here, like my black shopping trolley I use when I go grocery shopping. We aren't sure yet if we are buying a washer or not, since there is a laundromat that is a 2 minute walk from the house. If we don't buy a washer, we might put something in here so we could have a little coffee/tea prep area and clear some space in the kitchen.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLOt3uh7ow1t6TQLMeIcFzA_Ci-zMmvkGHYB5lFlG1i8ZqETCPQW3_AQOPybkFZDNj2Mxg6Ug5u7cCvFxbIlF1tpLvFofJHDKNGQzNuchelQgoaL1wIT9xW2HUg17_tPKlfuDbutwCZX8/s1600/DSCI1431.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLOt3uh7ow1t6TQLMeIcFzA_Ci-zMmvkGHYB5lFlG1i8ZqETCPQW3_AQOPybkFZDNj2Mxg6Ug5u7cCvFxbIlF1tpLvFofJHDKNGQzNuchelQgoaL1wIT9xW2HUg17_tPKlfuDbutwCZX8/s320/DSCI1431.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Right off the laundry room is the bathroom</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcovXEZFSsPiT87S1XTP_NBcPZFC5MnA3ZcRiBDRP5_qfckTj_wS2y3PMlChvMHMA46q-V3JKNtT03LOyROa7ymNK4I41oLkca_U0_QEHg_9IhHCrYOvtLtlHZFCbmflHfpPhoPOcbi-o/s1600/DSCI1432.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcovXEZFSsPiT87S1XTP_NBcPZFC5MnA3ZcRiBDRP5_qfckTj_wS2y3PMlChvMHMA46q-V3JKNtT03LOyROa7ymNK4I41oLkca_U0_QEHg_9IhHCrYOvtLtlHZFCbmflHfpPhoPOcbi-o/s320/DSCI1432.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbLuIFxRyz3AHJQFMLpHhZS6zx4_6b-83sVsgWZ9Abc6IXnNDwpP2FcPfSHgI6LnadxND_PPfI7gszY21Ykg15768qIlzAzHStxw39vNfD2ASWA1QS1ylbH9R0D5FQYxxfmesv9zGFd_g/s1600/DSCI1433.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbLuIFxRyz3AHJQFMLpHhZS6zx4_6b-83sVsgWZ9Abc6IXnNDwpP2FcPfSHgI6LnadxND_PPfI7gszY21Ykg15768qIlzAzHStxw39vNfD2ASWA1QS1ylbH9R0D5FQYxxfmesv9zGFd_g/s320/DSCI1433.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There was no mirror in here, so we had to get adhesive mirrors from IKEA to put up, hence the unconventional line pattern. Also, the plants are no longer in the windowsill, they were just inside to try to revive them (which Daniel was very successful with, you'll see how nice they look in the garden pictures now)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNZs9K6WEaBjqSmEXCZOQO2DmAHeL_iRP5owlf1ynUaqNPkui5MaVLXrM8EVxsO8CYoUpSOY8kM0Aa1waYca49a0YPkT-VGQm2LD5Gr2VRBSlNd9krOmwLf3hfGTPgjIE5tgLcQrrgtSg/s1600/DSCI1517.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNZs9K6WEaBjqSmEXCZOQO2DmAHeL_iRP5owlf1ynUaqNPkui5MaVLXrM8EVxsO8CYoUpSOY8kM0Aa1waYca49a0YPkT-VGQm2LD5Gr2VRBSlNd9krOmwLf3hfGTPgjIE5tgLcQrrgtSg/s320/DSCI1517.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So the bathroom is the last room in the house...if you go back to the main room and out the side door, this is our garden. (Those plants hanging on the fence are the dead looking ones in the bathroom photo)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCox6UbgdkA_dmdQlBYYZNmRIKOARI6mctdPWG0wHV1-N_EKvXRH6EjUrCeU0v8-SNn9dLDtri9VVPGrlrb8afU65Br5t75u-wggvJVKjTU2g5p9sDpjbv_vLQLUZnbmYpEhMMhGObSQI/s1600/DSCI1320.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCox6UbgdkA_dmdQlBYYZNmRIKOARI6mctdPWG0wHV1-N_EKvXRH6EjUrCeU0v8-SNn9dLDtri9VVPGrlrb8afU65Br5t75u-wggvJVKjTU2g5p9sDpjbv_vLQLUZnbmYpEhMMhGObSQI/s320/DSCI1320.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The back of the garden, behind the house</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5PA5zM3ELvtSHFvUGckZ0SLdPr9FYknDpqjXMWT183i3toe1MC592wvFeS9Zkaomm4IRc8aLxF8_ZDEsn_PPXpql5nxx0CfWK1bs8DNAEjECLFv2efuZzFfyYKA7r0SoNGRkOCm6ekBg/s1600/DSCI1322.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5PA5zM3ELvtSHFvUGckZ0SLdPr9FYknDpqjXMWT183i3toe1MC592wvFeS9Zkaomm4IRc8aLxF8_ZDEsn_PPXpql5nxx0CfWK1bs8DNAEjECLFv2efuZzFfyYKA7r0SoNGRkOCm6ekBg/s320/DSCI1322.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hmm...wonder what's in the little garden shed?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO9cyzz5ENBS7ilAIkCgF1rblF3-fAztekhJm1GaLsZsxmX4KwQ8_MiOjjGYPytWnSuc8qaqSGKehZBKINJ1ipxnyL1zc3oxkaaoiMt1-bIynM5yaiSMzF_FUAZzwLBJNRNeaAQPWoZZY/s1600/DSCI1321.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO9cyzz5ENBS7ilAIkCgF1rblF3-fAztekhJm1GaLsZsxmX4KwQ8_MiOjjGYPytWnSuc8qaqSGKehZBKINJ1ipxnyL1zc3oxkaaoiMt1-bIynM5yaiSMzF_FUAZzwLBJNRNeaAQPWoZZY/s320/DSCI1321.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An old toilet! This was quite a surprise to find when we moved in...just one more quirk of living in an old house!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeTr6HHzGXHcUZtjWz9ykHtjMnv2UThxO2EW8BpM5vun4JYL4Ph8HrCZ-zEamdR-4hLMznNs2UXWhdh9W1Xqz6OZhMxObWwSr1O9kowB3FKn6KHZhiRfnH4U82i490D-rfHOTA_0pZSDI/s1600/DSCI1325.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeTr6HHzGXHcUZtjWz9ykHtjMnv2UThxO2EW8BpM5vun4JYL4Ph8HrCZ-zEamdR-4hLMznNs2UXWhdh9W1Xqz6OZhMxObWwSr1O9kowB3FKn6KHZhiRfnH4U82i490D-rfHOTA_0pZSDI/s320/DSCI1325.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The back of the house</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvj6RukoiiUTPk0c1YvnJAT12OaWyttaRAmcoQbIAWsAC5mmU7V7e4aZ699h5UHoreTYQWQONct7ImTutvaLABhVPRt1rZueHybzijxjXPJhx5U-_50VDEZY_sUliBxfdkIGwpQhAPfX8/s1600/DSCI1317.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvj6RukoiiUTPk0c1YvnJAT12OaWyttaRAmcoQbIAWsAC5mmU7V7e4aZ699h5UHoreTYQWQONct7ImTutvaLABhVPRt1rZueHybzijxjXPJhx5U-_50VDEZY_sUliBxfdkIGwpQhAPfX8/s320/DSCI1317.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our back garden gate</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvCUTYhUbW2-2zE87eEO21LHU8u0ek2nmfwBlvJ3T02v1lh_iqQ9QN1vcK8rXyQQY0tPTfsgHxiiYCKh81zsE-fHGRli9wFXatP2qZAvv3HB8NiGnF2KaGPr1Wt2KDruLOEV-i6KVRuVQ/s1600/DSCI1329.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvCUTYhUbW2-2zE87eEO21LHU8u0ek2nmfwBlvJ3T02v1lh_iqQ9QN1vcK8rXyQQY0tPTfsgHxiiYCKh81zsE-fHGRli9wFXatP2qZAvv3HB8NiGnF2KaGPr1Wt2KDruLOEV-i6KVRuVQ/s320/DSCI1329.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The alley behind our garden that the back gate leads to</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
So, there's our house! It's still a work in progress, but we're proud of how nice it looks now, and we finally have most of the things that make living in a place comfortable! </div>
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~Victoria</div>
Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07678821253355157179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7498753723631098256.post-38236055848397161862013-08-23T03:14:00.001-05:002013-08-23T03:14:04.192-05:00Neighborhood: Pigdon Street to Princes ParkThis afternoon after his day at work, Daniel and I met at the French bakery, Filou's Patisserie, down the street from us to try out their pastries and coffee (if you can't tell from my Facebook statuses, we are having lots of fun trying out all the great eateries that are walking distance from us!) This place was great, since their coffee and pastries were excellent, the server was actually French, and we got bonus flat whites (which is the iconic espresso drink in Melbourne, for those of you that haven't heard of it...basically a latte with less foam) because the server sloshed some of our original coffees we ordered into the saucers when she carried them to our table, and she felt so bad about it that she gave us both a flat white to go to make up for it (even though we really weren't very upset the little spill).<br />
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After our afternoon snack, we decided to explore another part of our area we hadn't been in yet, and headed down a street near us (Pigdon) toward one of Melbourne's many parks (Princes Park). We remembered to bring a camera this time, so I thought I'd share our photos.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifDSOdyvusHKQ-ua9qpjssXbDZrilxZg8pbJx2WSVcgo8E5nMvdwY4itVmZyu8Ol0uutNIOWhPC6BoCtDLCBAGndN2O2SlIeGb4oJ6ILz_K9A-LWG4AV_s1y6cS5dK_X_iu4mBBb8778c/s1600/DSCI1435.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifDSOdyvusHKQ-ua9qpjssXbDZrilxZg8pbJx2WSVcgo8E5nMvdwY4itVmZyu8Ol0uutNIOWhPC6BoCtDLCBAGndN2O2SlIeGb4oJ6ILz_K9A-LWG4AV_s1y6cS5dK_X_iu4mBBb8778c/s320/DSCI1435.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The intersection of Pigdon and Lygon (I love the trees in the median)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5oGxYR7Tav0YfW-a0cebv1GEfBamyedFX8KFKyoWyOU593xRj_Jwg6vrxA_geAKuuDOY1H8KVpNzFPn16wDMAW-nEO0dO2TWsWL-V22l6JzUUBztznUU9HuFrO95LSO5W54zf1nbEorE/s1600/DSCI1436.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5oGxYR7Tav0YfW-a0cebv1GEfBamyedFX8KFKyoWyOU593xRj_Jwg6vrxA_geAKuuDOY1H8KVpNzFPn16wDMAW-nEO0dO2TWsWL-V22l6JzUUBztznUU9HuFrO95LSO5W54zf1nbEorE/s320/DSCI1436.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a tram, which is pretty much the predominant way to get around in the city, though there are also buses, trains and cabs, all of which are also frequently used. Melbourne is one of the few cities in the world to use trams like this. They're pretty neat...you can see they're attached to cables above them, and they run on tracks laid into the roads. Sometimes they have their own lane in traffic, like here, and sometimes they actually run in the same lanes as the cars (which makes driving in Melbourne pretty unique).</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3HIbIfokUq0BZET731Q6G2bOSsBF-Qre7nqvYN3yAFHRezx79WDOEF1ISclhTtGr-HLmBgLqprQjUHjEa-4AS5Cifi7IisVP5v4td6ZoYPYNV3jqVA0DRJyZUUdM56Vr4ds4Q2bmceYI/s1600/DSCI1437.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3HIbIfokUq0BZET731Q6G2bOSsBF-Qre7nqvYN3yAFHRezx79WDOEF1ISclhTtGr-HLmBgLqprQjUHjEa-4AS5Cifi7IisVP5v4td6ZoYPYNV3jqVA0DRJyZUUdM56Vr4ds4Q2bmceYI/s320/DSCI1437.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daniel at Princes Park</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixLe4RumKU_jcUilOG6O6qTFw_7i_6dsvGRRYky12wG4dJnSMBJ8ykgQwK9wL737_VnzvmkOczp6g-M-gRka3vK2SCVp9qOQJd4wSadItlOKimOca-_DNl4AyyRFnl2g-GfJ8nIHLwGWU/s1600/DSCI1438.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixLe4RumKU_jcUilOG6O6qTFw_7i_6dsvGRRYky12wG4dJnSMBJ8ykgQwK9wL737_VnzvmkOczp6g-M-gRka3vK2SCVp9qOQJd4wSadItlOKimOca-_DNl4AyyRFnl2g-GfJ8nIHLwGWU/s320/DSCI1438.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An Australian bird...I think, based on my Google searching, that this is an Australian magpie, though I could be wrong, as I'm really bad at bird identification. Regardless, the birds here in Australia sound really different from birds in the US...they were one of the strangest things for me to get used to when we came here.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVa_9BSK4a3Va_D3-oSckKU69Dk6OQ-FQmc61TH_QghJ4OThkQ-7aOu7x1acM5_wsrbyS6hBv19ZT3AxT5kfriz6-mkgcNPfcoD-nEqk1HmjOi1FDv_GkvVS4pUsSR9IiKK0W_uNIA8Bo/s1600/DSCI1439.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVa_9BSK4a3Va_D3-oSckKU69Dk6OQ-FQmc61TH_QghJ4OThkQ-7aOu7x1acM5_wsrbyS6hBv19ZT3AxT5kfriz6-mkgcNPfcoD-nEqk1HmjOi1FDv_GkvVS4pUsSR9IiKK0W_uNIA8Bo/s320/DSCI1439.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of Melbourne's pretty Victorian architecture</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtGOU6JujTW8qCMEehiRKU6ZbfDKWjIWhkPvNm6vchTiQ2KYVk98kZBMQV_lAOdrrhGWrvbmCm9Tx_ydLtw2woVm7_7aDJT_gt8BYzoRNvqBRsXRPKBh314MnAMg0Bw_8IA6iQRRxaJi0/s1600/DSCI1440.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtGOU6JujTW8qCMEehiRKU6ZbfDKWjIWhkPvNm6vchTiQ2KYVk98kZBMQV_lAOdrrhGWrvbmCm9Tx_ydLtw2woVm7_7aDJT_gt8BYzoRNvqBRsXRPKBh314MnAMg0Bw_8IA6iQRRxaJi0/s320/DSCI1440.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fountain in Princes Park</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsfHwgrgn3cPad9GIiO_5YYB1ytQRaqSOXobRH12i3zKO9tnKNcdemtLw5MyfIx31d0KDzTivjtxkAnX40d3aGEyyBLRog_hyphenhyphendn75oHaiGKy4FxpDdZ5t7Y6JfGMVHRuaAvjn9CAxPCow/s1600/DSCI1441.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsfHwgrgn3cPad9GIiO_5YYB1ytQRaqSOXobRH12i3zKO9tnKNcdemtLw5MyfIx31d0KDzTivjtxkAnX40d3aGEyyBLRog_hyphenhyphendn75oHaiGKy4FxpDdZ5t7Y6JfGMVHRuaAvjn9CAxPCow/s320/DSCI1441.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tree lined path in Princes Park</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRdNJpH-dVx3qJ1Qqc9FlA0NRc4CA2Y-FpiK2GMe2yT6p_ya3_tzOrghmzQgS7IiacfE9FwfJ7bVVNTd7INgu8S2i4nwiuSwYsJmgkmwSsQ0uYiME-aPnDncfSvga7FKI7K78aRNCibzc/s1600/DSCI1442.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRdNJpH-dVx3qJ1Qqc9FlA0NRc4CA2Y-FpiK2GMe2yT6p_ya3_tzOrghmzQgS7IiacfE9FwfJ7bVVNTd7INgu8S2i4nwiuSwYsJmgkmwSsQ0uYiME-aPnDncfSvga7FKI7K78aRNCibzc/s320/DSCI1442.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More Victorian architecture (this is someone's house!)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3IpMaeBBNbwV7eYNBiTWqec7MjABcTHtgOTrE5Gd8n1oeNMC30z9u66eRi9BAPQXMI7W51f0k2EMArjm1YyWyhgSgH8bj4rvxKjJw8sASssX16J8aCSVtfY8ZHCDJ2UNvcFQpoL4ahP0/s1600/DSCI1443.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3IpMaeBBNbwV7eYNBiTWqec7MjABcTHtgOTrE5Gd8n1oeNMC30z9u66eRi9BAPQXMI7W51f0k2EMArjm1YyWyhgSgH8bj4rvxKjJw8sASssX16J8aCSVtfY8ZHCDJ2UNvcFQpoL4ahP0/s320/DSCI1443.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love these flowers. Don't know what they're called, but lots of people have them in their gardens here, and they're just gorgeous.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2OPPc3ukMo2GLgdzO3tvRlS1O_nceMjxwSPn6D4E_2aG5Wg_z3RGsV9T3ADaO45a1DooibaxR90nhE3LO-Y1RHg_ORM-M3BUCX3-S-N21cKDmugYMKLtzZCblmrGvyBHmHJ9nE2ydyr0/s1600/DSCI1444.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2OPPc3ukMo2GLgdzO3tvRlS1O_nceMjxwSPn6D4E_2aG5Wg_z3RGsV9T3ADaO45a1DooibaxR90nhE3LO-Y1RHg_ORM-M3BUCX3-S-N21cKDmugYMKLtzZCblmrGvyBHmHJ9nE2ydyr0/s320/DSCI1444.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This looks like a random picture, but I was trying to get a picture of all the chimneytops...they're just so old fashioned looking...I love them :)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixNMjHdIrS94KiBCaKTD5gkyYOph7wdw0wQekuLId-W4MofwMqwh-OvxZel3TBLOlaFPZ5gfgelWR-f7U7Upy2VgCUsSRDyDtCihvUzuRrrs_BQJpYksJesfl0CjNLGxZV2VADMsDqwBY/s1600/DSCI1445.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixNMjHdIrS94KiBCaKTD5gkyYOph7wdw0wQekuLId-W4MofwMqwh-OvxZel3TBLOlaFPZ5gfgelWR-f7U7Upy2VgCUsSRDyDtCihvUzuRrrs_BQJpYksJesfl0CjNLGxZV2VADMsDqwBY/s320/DSCI1445.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Greek Orthodox church near us...looking at this picture, the road to the left is the one we live down.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnYgK2sSesx6rtrmMKmcrdicRvVol7dHuAAi2ZgEn53uWd1KjZNBNk3os1LV66Rq4TwEy02EB81nvKvE1EBdS7TYxwX2D0QsiQidUvEB7aa32O_N5bRasZK1wicBNJr-Z_A0jvFzfNvgU/s1600/DSCI1446.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnYgK2sSesx6rtrmMKmcrdicRvVol7dHuAAi2ZgEn53uWd1KjZNBNk3os1LV66Rq4TwEy02EB81nvKvE1EBdS7TYxwX2D0QsiQidUvEB7aa32O_N5bRasZK1wicBNJr-Z_A0jvFzfNvgU/s320/DSCI1446.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The laundromat and cafe up the street from us...looking at the picture of the church above, if you cross our street (on the left of the church) these are just down from there.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9a5YgJZxsf5u5r-Po73nI8Sqr4DLXtyERZ3SOHZK80lg0Dk1Skb0FJbZcW7ytsYMqryKb6pR5YNTAeyvhKrGCqjX8Dilqo_iSYbWVbzEhpVKIJ8jl_I_SLA57w_6M88V-yLsG8D9M8j8/s1600/DSCI1447.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9a5YgJZxsf5u5r-Po73nI8Sqr4DLXtyERZ3SOHZK80lg0Dk1Skb0FJbZcW7ytsYMqryKb6pR5YNTAeyvhKrGCqjX8Dilqo_iSYbWVbzEhpVKIJ8jl_I_SLA57w_6M88V-yLsG8D9M8j8/s320/DSCI1447.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daniel outside the beautiful florist just a bit farther down from the cafe and laundromat...this florist set out several plants one night that weren't quite high quality enough for them to sell with a sign asking someone to take them, so we have them now :) </td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2MrR6z5Us9HtyC5i5DOEu9tQofhWCNuiAjks8ZmAJzOeFtLizrL_Tps4E2YXnP00HZX4Y3Pj9cjv__M9ZCS0xA1ZOn3N8w6tPPCYfYCXJDqcJ_qIgbApk3JtZSNsr1Rel9wTLyWS56p8/s1600/DSCI1449.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2MrR6z5Us9HtyC5i5DOEu9tQofhWCNuiAjks8ZmAJzOeFtLizrL_Tps4E2YXnP00HZX4Y3Pj9cjv__M9ZCS0xA1ZOn3N8w6tPPCYfYCXJDqcJ_qIgbApk3JtZSNsr1Rel9wTLyWS56p8/s320/DSCI1449.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The florist's sidewalk display during business hours...I love getting to walk past this pretty much every day :)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcu-9m9DFGAf87CvLkUCJI3Zysg0bjgZGKEY6QDho08YHa5GeXQ2Hj6Gk8uPknwh2ZGEtsBORWC8_JRw8avIGv0XxZIDA94uaSIasbj0G8hp6bHyc0fZGKaqMdJsy0WKk22x9tj66VBNw/s1600/DSCI1448.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcu-9m9DFGAf87CvLkUCJI3Zysg0bjgZGKEY6QDho08YHa5GeXQ2Hj6Gk8uPknwh2ZGEtsBORWC8_JRw8avIGv0XxZIDA94uaSIasbj0G8hp6bHyc0fZGKaqMdJsy0WKk22x9tj66VBNw/s320/DSCI1448.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 24 hour florist, just across the street from the florist above</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2CBQCz0hNWqkDhMvfhpNd63TB5WgcnyJgcgK7trrEWTIaRTUtU35YdYiFdNWNCNT8zpGdCS6T1dlOdCEcdESKxDIekNWdop9eq4wnAOGL3l9xrpYBPWo90BEJlpDUhORuY-BjffWKFZk/s1600/DSCI1450.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2CBQCz0hNWqkDhMvfhpNd63TB5WgcnyJgcgK7trrEWTIaRTUtU35YdYiFdNWNCNT8zpGdCS6T1dlOdCEcdESKxDIekNWdop9eq4wnAOGL3l9xrpYBPWo90BEJlpDUhORuY-BjffWKFZk/s320/DSCI1450.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daniel at our street sign</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisBIrcbdqR1YpHqvOS2CPP1YR6XmimtV5fh9t78OsJ3I1Gbzkew3hb6HEzrVCR1BAyzYBF2zJcFpnifZDHrccP-xxoqjNEScymR1UehD32e2xCaad53iUp5O3EbvcOwGL_k8C7EvZBbPE/s1600/DSCI1451.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisBIrcbdqR1YpHqvOS2CPP1YR6XmimtV5fh9t78OsJ3I1Gbzkew3hb6HEzrVCR1BAyzYBF2zJcFpnifZDHrccP-xxoqjNEScymR1UehD32e2xCaad53iUp5O3EbvcOwGL_k8C7EvZBbPE/s320/DSCI1451.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And again</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGB808UkTLgnU9Y1iJxv-Hy-lqSImWgIWdbXmL0PnWGC3Vf4udnuVw01JDBzWCa2qN748s0tnXJsYvhMgkWgtQJG5QeG42APNpzVrbMidYUXPyQdSXvpkbWRwtWQIeAwm-qGEqCXA5IL0/s1600/DSCI1453.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGB808UkTLgnU9Y1iJxv-Hy-lqSImWgIWdbXmL0PnWGC3Vf4udnuVw01JDBzWCa2qN748s0tnXJsYvhMgkWgtQJG5QeG42APNpzVrbMidYUXPyQdSXvpkbWRwtWQIeAwm-qGEqCXA5IL0/s320/DSCI1453.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me beside the Greek church...I do wear outfits besides this red dress, I promise, I just always seem to wear it on days we take photos.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
So finally some Melbourne photos for everyone! Next up will hopefully be a post about our terrace, as we've finally started to get it into decent enough shape to take pictures and show it off :)<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
VictoriaVictoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07678821253355157179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7498753723631098256.post-38088808708450373892013-08-21T01:40:00.001-05:002013-08-21T01:40:14.436-05:00Life at the Uni: Daniel's Job<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj0vkmKT8KHaSqpJsXgj-e3FD0_UVYDBoZunS6sjav5jn5RB2NWgRPMk-WT0852prmU9ARSq8p09D0c3UT9BJK6TY6m9iMX7Kj6sPwKXJxPFRv4ZRuZDwdIuVa0Ve11dM2LMu4qrcAETQ/s1600/DSCI1256.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj0vkmKT8KHaSqpJsXgj-e3FD0_UVYDBoZunS6sjav5jn5RB2NWgRPMk-WT0852prmU9ARSq8p09D0c3UT9BJK6TY6m9iMX7Kj6sPwKXJxPFRv4ZRuZDwdIuVa0Ve11dM2LMu4qrcAETQ/s320/DSCI1256.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr. Shank at work in his office!</td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal">Hello all! Today's post is from Daniel, and explains what exactly his job is here in Melbourne. I'm hoping to get back to writing posts soon...trying to get a house together and prepare for a new baby has been wiping me out lately!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">~Victoria </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Hello from Daniel! Let me try to explain a little bit about my job at the University of Melbourne. First off, I am a postdoctoral research fellow. Similar to my position at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, this is a temporary position (this time 3 years) where I am exclusively doing research.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I will not be teaching any classes. The position is funded by two grants to Prof. Yoshi Kashima and colleagues from the Australian Research Council, which is the Australian counterpart to the U.S.’s National Science Foundation. Second, I am in the School of Psychological Sciences, basically a psychology department. My PhD is in Sociology, and my first postdoc was in the Department of Sociology at UAB, so it is a pretty big change to be in a psychology department. There is overlap between psychology and sociology, and that overlap contains my research interest, social psychology.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So what will I be doing? The projects I am working on both revolve around studying social dilemmas. Social dilemmas are a wide range of issues that occur when humans’ individual desires and needs depend partially on other humans to be fulfilled. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Social dilemmas can range in scale from a couple trying to decide whether to go shopping or to a movie, to a society coordinating their government’s functions and limitations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will be focusing on public goods dilemmas, those where there is some good or resource that needs multiple people to create or sustain it, but that is freely available to everyone. Think of the environment, parks, bridges, public museums, infrastructure, knowledge, or Wikipedia. Although most of those are public in the truest sense, there is also some that are only “public” within a domain, such as a committee coming up with a report that would benefit all in the organization, or apartment complex residents growing a garden with produce available to anyone in the complex.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In all cases, people can individually decide to not contribute the money, taxes, time, or resources to create and maintain the public good, but still benefit from it. This is called free riding, named after getting a free ride on public transportation. Yet, if no one contributes, there is no public good or it cannot be maintained. Some of the examples I mentioned above used some type of consent or coercion such as democratic taxation to solve these public goods dilemmas. Many, such as the kind I am researching, are voluntary contribution situations.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The first project I’m working on (from the one of the grants) involves considering how mobility alters contributions in publics goods dilemmas of different sizes. To do this, we use games (as in game theory), originally developed in economics. Public goods games allow for experiments of public goods dilemmas in which we can manipulation and isolate particular elements of interest. In this case, larger public goods dilemmas can lead to more contributions and cooperation but they can also undermine it, depending on the exact specifications. Yet in spite of the size, in most experimental tests, people are stuck in the social dilemma with particular others. What if one could leave one public goods game for another? We believe it will increase cooperation, but are testing whether it will increase cooperation differently for different sized public goods dilemmas. Later, we will run variations that include some communication and gossip elements, allowing people to report to others what they have experienced with particular public goods games.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The second project applies the public goods dilemma paradigm to climate change and the environment. Other researchers on this project are considering, via surveys, people’s view of utopias and dystopias and how those views incorporate (or fail to incorporate) the environment and the economy. A program has been developed (also by other researchers on the project) whereby people can interact with a simulation program that models the impact of the economy on the environment. The participant gets to choose the level of economic activity, with higher levels generating more money for the participant in the short run. The high economic activity, however, hurts the environment which subsequently hurts the economy in a negative feedback loop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The stages of this project include modifying the information participants receive about the model, the relationship of utopic and distopic visions to behavior in the simulation and multiple player versions.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In the multiple player versions, each person’s economic activity generates profit for himself/herself, but hurts the economy resulting in decreased profitability for the economy in the longterm. In other words, it’s a public goods dilemma!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both projects require large experiments. In the first, we must have multiple public goods games of small and large sizes to allow participants to move from one to another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That means we will need more people than we can fit in a lab at one time (something like 10 games of 5 participants each).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, we are developing computer programs to run these experiments on the web, linked from Amazon Mechanical Turk, where we can hire a number of participants to run our experiments at once. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">On the projects are computer scientists who are doing some modeling of public goods dilemmas, social network scholars contributing theoretical insights, and several psychologists. So currently I am doing a range of activities, which includes a lot of meetings to understand what different people are working on. I am preparing for these experiments by working with a PhD student who is the programmer for the climate change project. I am going to be building on his computer programs in order to program the experiments in Amazon Turk. Also, in a coordinated effort, we are trying to design and get ethics approval for these experiments.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In conclusion, I will say that campus is nice and I’m getting to know a lot of friendly people in the department (the department is really large so it will take a while). I have gotten coffee from five different places on campus, so there are a lot more to go. The student union which is close by has a sushi place, two noodle places, a French café, Indian food, a Japanese restaurant, a pizza place, Mexican food, kabobs, and smoothie, coffee, and dessert outlets, so that is a lot of fun.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Cheers,</div><div class="MsoNormal">Daniel<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbPeUDXk2LeSic0BhN5FRmOBZJfHVcD-tn-Oy0AlR9_Sm26GyP83y7YyDkxtiBGur8x5bZT34wm5tbP4DY1x8Pj7pvT3iSoHWBlCWmaONHv1Wqh3_YxdQT03SwGTg2qAdBmAP4-HudtNo/s1600/DSCI1252.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbPeUDXk2LeSic0BhN5FRmOBZJfHVcD-tn-Oy0AlR9_Sm26GyP83y7YyDkxtiBGur8x5bZT34wm5tbP4DY1x8Pj7pvT3iSoHWBlCWmaONHv1Wqh3_YxdQT03SwGTg2qAdBmAP4-HudtNo/s320/DSCI1252.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from Daniel's office</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFbsGxNI9mTMLwb8EtHVefI7q7MqfSpboQLR4VxLmo5kJ8osItUcFHKYbgpcoOVI_-9rrD4xqGsJcgwpPT8y6KOtZDnKYnsMVNKabujnFfD8CPgwf_jrz7sGJ75ZfQV_qcipIGgonlQ0Y/s1600/DSCI1253.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFbsGxNI9mTMLwb8EtHVefI7q7MqfSpboQLR4VxLmo5kJ8osItUcFHKYbgpcoOVI_-9rrD4xqGsJcgwpPT8y6KOtZDnKYnsMVNKabujnFfD8CPgwf_jrz7sGJ75ZfQV_qcipIGgonlQ0Y/s320/DSCI1253.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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</div>Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07678821253355157179noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7498753723631098256.post-47293585683527222013-07-18T19:17:00.002-05:002013-07-18T19:17:49.746-05:00Apartment Hunting in MelbourneSince we are currently in the midst of searching for an apartment here in Melbourne, and I keep referring to it in my blog and Facebook posts, it's probably time to write a post explaining exactly how the whole process works here. We had a very interesting day pursuing apartment leads yesterday, so it seems appropriate to explain Melbourne apartment hunting and give a recap of our day in the same post :)<br />
<br />
Before we arrived in Melbourne, we read lots of websites that talked about how difficult it is to secure an apartment here, due to the very high demand for rental properties. We prepared as much as we could in advance, and so far I think we've done fairly well. However, no matter how prepared we were, the process is proving quite stressful and time consuming, so we hope one of our current pending applications will be accepted so we can be done with the whole thing!<br />
<br />
Basically, here in Melbourne, there really aren't any large apartment complexes such as you can find in a lot of places in the US. There are some large high rise apartment towers, but generally those are more pricey than we'd like or they only sell their apartments, not rent them. Due to there being so many small apartment blocks, you really don't ever have a place that will just show you a model unit or anything like that. Instead, you have to "inspect" the individual units that are up for rent. Inspections can happen one of two ways: (1) you can contact an agency managing a property you are interested in and set up an inspection if they are willing or (2) you can go to open inspection times, which the agency schedules at their convenience and post on the property listing online. So far, we've had lots of available open inspection times for properties that looked promising, so we haven't started contacting agents in advance, though we might do that soon if we have to continue searching.<br />
<br />
Inspection times are generally a 15 minute window. The agent shows up (usually exactly on time; if the inspection starts at 11, they tend to walk up at exactly 11, not 10:58), opens the unit, and everyone who has come to see it goes inside and looks around. The agent will answer questions if you have them, but generally they just stay out of the way. When you're done inspecting, you can pick up an application form from the agent on your way out. Some people actually show up to inspections with their applications already filled out and hand them to the agent at the inspection (we haven't done that, we put in our applications online the same day we view the property, it's just been easier for us).<br />
<br />
The inspections themselves really aren't too stressful or anything (though it is a bit odd to us to have to rush around for only 15 minutes trying to completely assess a unit's suitability for us, as well as spot any and all potential problems the place has). What's stressful is the fact that open inspection times are scheduled at the agencies' discretion, so if you try to see several different places on a day when they are all open, you end up with a strangely scheduled day (as you'll see when I recap our day yesterday). <br />
<br />
Applications for rentals here are my new least favorite thing on the planet. They are quite bureaucratic and complex, and every time we do one it seems something goes wrong with it and it makes it take forever to complete. Most rental applications here require vast quantities of personal information, and agencies require one application form per applicant, so Daniel and I each have to do one. Generally, they ask for your name, your ID number (drivers license or passport) and expiration date, current address, previous address, contact details for previous landlords, contacts for your previous and past employment, your salary (though everyone wants it differently: we've had it asked for as annual salary, as gross monthly salary, as gross weekly salary, as net monthly or weekly salary, etc.), and finally, personal (character) and professional references. On top of all this information, you are also required to provide supporting documentation for your application, which can range anywhere from copies of your ID (for us, our passports), to your birth certificate, to a letter or contract confirming your employment or salary, to utility bills, to bank statements going back a few months, to a written reference from your previous landlord, or a host of other things. And each agency wants all of this information and documentation in a different combination than the last place you applied to, so it's never a quick thing to fill out and submit an app.<br />
<br />
Once applications are submitted, the agents vet the applicants, confirm their employment, make sure they aren't in Australia illegally, etc., then the applicants go to the actual owner of the property, who decides which one they want living in their unit. The approval process is supposed to take anywhere from 24-48 hours generally, though we currently have a pending application that is now on its third day awaiting approval or rejection. Most units have multiple applications, and since the decision is up to the owner, there's really no way to predict what factors might endear you to them or make them dislike you. Also, since there's never any guarantee you'll get a particular unit, while you wait to hear back about an application, you have to carry on with viewing and applying to other properties in case you're rejected from the one you've already applied to.<br />
<br />
So, as you can see, the whole process is an absolute pain.<br />
<br />
Anyway, on to recapping our day yesterday. For some reason, yesterday we had found lots of open inspection times for properties we wanted to see, so we scheduled a pretty full day of inspections (4 actual inspection locations, but 6 units total, since two of the apartment blocks had two units open at the same time...we like it when that happens because you get to see more units with less effort). So, we had inspections to attend from 11-11:15, 3-:3:15, 4-4:15 and 5:15-5:30. As you can see, a weird schedule, and without a car, none of the inspections had enough time between them to come back to the flat or anything.<br />
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Also, to save some money, I had decided we would walk to all the inspections instead of taking public transit, because none of them were really all that far away from where we're staying. In hindsight, we should have spent the small amount of money for public transit and saved our feet some pain, but hindsight is always 20/20, so oh well.<br />
<br />
In the morning, we set off for our 11:00 inspection, which was actually our only semi-private inspection so far. We had tried to view this unit the night before, but the agent had some issue with the key and couldn't get into the property, so he arranged with us and the other couple that showed up to show it to us this morning at 11:00.<br />
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Since we were walking all day, Daniel had the forethought to bring the camera with us, so we could actually take a few pictures of the city. So here's our first picture from Melbourne, a fabulous piece of street art here in Fitzroy:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaMQ5Rt44qLOnJzeVzvRkwTFMhAICkDAZAriDu8sJ_utfG2zfjxfY5Y99rbPqJg5BjFGQuXQH529wdlhAutP0DuU_LtdapL4NK0Uh-Bih2KjNivfTU7K_iqnrIFzaewbJWIwl0HjAzK2k/s1600/DSCI1249.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaMQ5Rt44qLOnJzeVzvRkwTFMhAICkDAZAriDu8sJ_utfG2zfjxfY5Y99rbPqJg5BjFGQuXQH529wdlhAutP0DuU_LtdapL4NK0Uh-Bih2KjNivfTU7K_iqnrIFzaewbJWIwl0HjAzK2k/s320/DSCI1249.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
And another shot of some more art just down from this piece, along with a funky apartment building:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7eCVZsYq0uxQePjj5j0EcYT3P16_nXVNECHnzhFLPPcfSGVZMSpFvCkkYaZUJrXp8rcE9PFIZhv3CnjFuEcDgphCa3oIlFXSQftdq87M_MYBMq0xBE4LYR6UTsc7bVIHBK8BV2ELp3JE/s1600/DSCI1250.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7eCVZsYq0uxQePjj5j0EcYT3P16_nXVNECHnzhFLPPcfSGVZMSpFvCkkYaZUJrXp8rcE9PFIZhv3CnjFuEcDgphCa3oIlFXSQftdq87M_MYBMq0xBE4LYR6UTsc7bVIHBK8BV2ELp3JE/s320/DSCI1250.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I'll just say again, the street art here is AMAZING.<br />
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Anyway, we went to our first inspection, and really liked the unit (we especially liked the fact that it's a 10 minute walk to Daniel's office!). We put in an application for it last night.<br />
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After that inspection, we had a good bit of time to kill before our next inspection at 3. We grabbed lunch at a little cheap cafe near the University, then went to Daniel's office (since we were basically right next to it) so Daniel could do some odds and ends at work. On our way there, we ran into one of the department administrators crossing the street, and she told us our M-bag of books had arrived (yay!). We went up to Daniel's office, collected the books, and did some cleaning and organizing to start getting his workspace into good order (it was a bit dirty and there was some junk left from the last tenants of the office).<br />
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Dr. Shank at his desk! <br />
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Our books!<br />
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The view from Daniel's office, on the 11th floor of the Redmond Barry Building:<br />
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Daniel decided to take a picture of me hanging out in his office.<br />
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When the time came, we set out for our next inspection: 2 units in the same building. We ended up not particularly liking either. On our walk, though, we passed a business that we had seen this past weekend while we did inspections, but decided to take a picture of it now, as we both find it amusing:<br />
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This is a 24 hour florist. We can't figure out why you would need a florist to be 24 hours, but there it is. Also, see the sign advertising that they sell coffee? They have this little coffee machine outside that you can put money into and get a coffee from. You know you're in a city that loves its espresso drinks when even the 24 hour florist sells them!<br />
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After our 3:00 inspection, our next one was at 4, but it was only about a 5 minute walk from the one we'd just seen, so we ended up being quite early. We sat on the curb outside for a while, but then it started to storm, so we took shelter under the front porch roof.<br />
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This particular property is actually one of the many (MANY) historic "terraces" that are all over Melbourne. Melbourne started to really grow in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and a lot of the city's architecture is actually from that time. These terraces were generally working class housing at that time, and a lot of them have survived till now (though some in better condition than others). The one we came to view had no pictures of the interior online, so we expected it would probably be run down inside due to its age, but we thought it would be really neat to get to see one of these historic places, and hoped it might prove to be a good find.<br />
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An example of Melbourne's Victorian terraces (not my photo...also this picture shows a terrace in much better condition than many of the ones here in the city, but you get the idea):<br />
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Anyway, when it started to rain, we went under the front roof outside the front door (behind this property's little cast iron gate and front fence...most of the terraces have this little area). We'd been there for a few minutes waiting for the rain to let up when a car pulled up and parked. The guy who got out turned out to be the property's current (soon to be former) tenant. He was a super nice guy, and immediately let us in the house, even though the real estate agent (the person who was actually supposed to run the inspection) wasn't there yet. He let us wander all over the house, and answered all our questions...it was quite nice to be able to ask questions of someone who had actually lived in the property and dealt with all its good and bad aspects.<br />
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Not too long later, more people showed up to view the place, and more, and more...the tenant just kept letting them all in, but the agent still hadn't showed up. It was a very interesting experience.<br />
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We had already figured out that we really, really loved this place. The interior was not run down as we'd expected, but was in really good condition. The front bedroom, which was slightly smaller than the main bedroom, and therefore an excellent potential baby nursery, had a beautiful old fireplace in it. There was a little fenced garden area that was adorable...the whole place was just old and interesting and wonderful, though there were definitely some aspects of it that would take some adjustment if you lived there (no built in closets, no obvious place to put a dining table, etc). But we loved it. So we kept waiting for the agent, because we like to make sure we chat with the agents a bit if we like a place so that maybe they'll remember us.<br />
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Finally, the agent showed up, after the 15 minute window of time the inspection was scheduled for. We chatted with him a bit, got the information to put in an application online, then left for our next inspection...in the rain. It continued raining as we walked, and it got pretty miserable. We had an umbrella and rain jackets, but still, walking in the rain for a while means you get pretty soaked, no matter what you do. I was in a particularly bad humor at this point, because we'd been walking all day (my fault, I know), I was tired of this whole apartment hunting process, and to make matters worse, I really, really needed a bathroom (all you ladies who've been pregnant know how that is). Anyway, we walked and walked, then noticed the sun ahead, though it was still raining. Daniel spotted a rainbow not long after, and we watched it turn into a double rainbow, then get brighter and brighter and brighter...it was the best rainbow either of us have ever seen. I've never seen one that bright, and both arches of the double rainbow were full arches...it was really gorgeous. We didn't try to take a picture because photos never seem to capture them, but it was really neat to see.<br />
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The rainbow made things a bit better, but it was still raining a bit (though it let up not long after) and I still needed that bathroom. We arrived at the next inspection early, and decided to walk down the street a bit and look for a coffee shop or something. It felt like we walked a long time (it was less than 10 minutes) and I was getting pretty desperate, when finally we came to a car wash. I had been telling Daniel earlier that day about two car washes I'd seen other places in the city that had coffee shops in them so you could get a latte or macchiato while you waited for your car to get washed (I told you this city LOVES its espresso drinks!) and how funny I found that. Well, sure enough this car wash had a cafe in it! I have never been so happy to see a car wash in my life. We went in, and at first the guy working there looked a bit confused, understandably so since we didn't have a car. But we explained the situation and bought coffees, and he ended up being just as nice and helpful as all the other Melbournians we've encountered :D<br />
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After that we had our last inspection (two units in the same building, neither of which we decided to apply to), then walked back to the flat, had dinner, submitted applications for the first apartment of the day as well as the terrace, and then spent as much time off our feet as possible! Happily, there are no inspections today, so Daniel has gone to the office for a normal day of work (one where I don't show up at some point and drag him off to an inspection!) and I'm doing a few things around the flat and making a quick trip to the supermarket. Our fingers are crossed that maybe we will hear back from a property soon so we can stop going to all these inspections!<br />
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Anyway, sorry, that was another long post! Hopefully the pictures made it a bit more interesting :)<br />
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Speaking of pictures, I'll leave you with the last photo we took yesterday, a random one that Daniel wanted:<br />
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Shank! :D<br />
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Love from Melbourne!<br />
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~Victoria <br />
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<br />Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07678821253355157179noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7498753723631098256.post-48300141492793399162013-07-16T18:22:00.000-05:002013-07-16T18:22:30.715-05:00Week One in MelbourneHello everyone! Today marks one week since we arrived here in Melbourne, and what a week it's been! I thought I would give a recap of this first week for anyone interested in what we've been up to.<br />
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On July 8, my sweet grandparents took us to the airport in Birmingham, where the rest of my family met us to see us off. We all went out for lunch, and then Daniel and I headed through airport security and, not too long after, boarded our first of 4 flights, this one a very small plane to Houston, TX. In Houston, we hurried through the airport, as we had a very short connection time, and caught our flight to Los Angeles. Once we arrived at LAX, we had the joy (note: that is pure sarcasm) of changing terminals, from domestic to international. Daniel and I both dislike LAX's design, because if you are changing terminals you have to leave the secure area, take a bus to your next terminal, and then clear airport security again. It's quite frustrating, but we managed all right, and then grabbed some dinner and washed our faces and brushed our teeth in preparation for our very long overseas flight from LA to Auckland, New Zealand. The flight to Auckland was around 12 hours long, which was definitely a test of endurance, though it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be (especially since they fed us twice!) We both slept a decent amount for that type of situation, and we arrived in Auckland around 6 or 6:30 am local time. I enjoyed watching the sun rise in New Zealand while we waited at the gate for our final flight to Melbourne, though unfortunately due to the location of the Auckland airport and the location of our seats on the planes, we never really got any neat views of New Zealand. No worries though, as we plan to make a hop over to explore NZ at some point while we live here in Australia.<br />
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From Auckland we had a 4 hour flight to Melbourne, and landed around 10 am Melbourne time. Flying in was exciting, as we managed to get some glimpses out the plane window at the Melbourne area. Our initial views were fun; we saw lots of water and green space interspersed with all the buildings.<br />
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After arriving in Melbourne, we cleared passport control, then went to international baggage claim to pick up our 6 checked bags. We were very thankful that the Melbourne airport supplies complimentary baggage carts at international baggage claim, because we certainly needed them! Once we loaded up our bags, we had to clear them through customs, which turned out to be absolutely no trouble at all.<br />
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Due to how much luggage we were carrying, we had decided to take a taxi from the airport to our temporary accommodations, so headed outside to the taxi area of the airport, where a staff person hailed a large, handicapped accessible van taxi for us (we had to have a big vehicle for all those bags!) The taxi took us straight to our temporary place...every part of our travels was just remarkably easy, something we were immensely grateful for.<br />
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Our temporary place here in Melbourne is actually a room we rented through a site called AirBnb. AirBnb allows people to list their spare rooms or other spaces which they want to rent out to travelers. The rates tend to be quite good, and we chose to rent a room like this instead of using a hostel or hotel because (a) it was cheaper and (b) we get access to a kitchen and laundry facilities here, which is nice since we are likely going to be without our own place for a few weeks, and it would be annoying to have to eat out all the time or lug our clothes to a laundromat.<br />
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Our room here is in a flat that is part of an apartment block in a converted chocolate factory. Two girls and one guy live here, though we haven't met one of the girls as yet, since she's currently traveling in Europe. The girl and guy we have met already are extremely nice and helpful, and have been so patient with all our questions. The flat is in one of our favorite neighborhoods here in Melbourne, an area called Fitzroy. It's sort of the bohemian, artistic neighborhood, so there's lots of great restaurants and cafes and bakeries, as well as cute shops that sell anything from art to vintage clothes and furniture to vegan products to almost anything else you can think of. We are also within an easy walk to a supermarket, our bank, and all of Melbourne's public transit options (I'll post in the future about public transit here).<br />
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The other neat thing about Fitzroy is its street art....Melbourne is known for accepting and encouraging artists to create their works all over Melbourne's buildings and walls, and Fitzroy has some excellent examples of it, for example this one which is just down the street from where we are currently staying (not my photo though, I got this from Google...we've been terrible at taking our camera anywhere!):<br />
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The first day we arrived, we went to our bank and finished setting up our accounts, and also went to the supermarket to get our initial food supplies. That evening, we went out to eat, since we were far too tired to cook anything. We found a place called SpudBar, which is a baked potato bar with lots of yummy toppings...it was a very good first restaurant experience in Melbourne. After dinner we came back to the flat and went to bed, I think around 6 pm. We both had an hour or so in the early morning hours where we woke up and stayed awake for a while due to jet lag, but we both managed to go back to sleep after it, and we got up around 7:30 the next morning. <br />
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The next day (Thursday), Daniel went to work at the University for the first time. He met several of his colleagues and did some of the paperwork always involved in the the start of a new job. So far he has been very happy with his experiences at work (I think I'll probably have him write a post to talk about his job in more detail soon, as he can obviously offer much more on it than I can!) While he was at work, I organized all our stuff (the day before we had just kind of left it all where it dropped!), researched prepaid cellphone plans, and then started looking up apartments and making a schedule for visiting ones that had open inspection times listed (I'll do a post later explaining how apartment hunting works here, in case you don't know what "inspection times" are). That evening we went out to dinner again, at a place called Rockwell and Sons that we found listed in a guide book. Daniel had their burger (which apparently they are known for ) and I had a fried chicken sandwich (we are surrounded by innumerable ethnic restaurants here in Fitzroy but somehow haven't managed to eat in one yet...though I am positive we will remedy that soon!)<br />
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Friday we got up and headed to the CBD (central business district) to get our phones set up.The CBD is where you can definitely tell you are in a global urban center...it's full of skyscrapers and people rushing around everywhere and cars and buses and trams and shops and so on. Our phone setup was quite simple (like most things here have been, thankfully!). We also stopped at Target (yes, they have Target here, though it's a company that just has the rights to the Target name and logo, they aren't the same as Target in the US) to pick up some pj pants for Daniel, as somehow we had apparently managed to leave his in the States. Once we got back to the flat and had some lunch, Daniel headed off to work for the afternoon, and I worked on apartment stuff some more. We spent a quiet evening in once he got back from work.<br />
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Saturday we spent most of the day going around the city to apartment inspections. We looked at 4 apartments, but ultimately decided not to apply to any of them. It was fun to see so many different areas of the city though.<br />
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Our inspection times ranged from mid morning to mid afternoon, and we had a break between two of them, so we decided to get some lunch. We were in a suburb called Brunswick East, and we walked a bit until we came across a small cafe and decided to stop and eat there. It was a tiny little place with different soups and sandwiches and breakfast items, as well as espresso drinks. There were only two staff members, a man and a woman, and we're pretty certain they were the owners. After we ordered, while we were waiting for our food, the man struck up a conversation with us about where we were from (we explained that we were from the Southern US) and his travels in the US. It was quite enjoyable (as was the food). About the time we were finishing and getting ready to head to our next inspection, some New Orleans zydeco music started playing in the cafe (there hadn't been any music before). The owner popped his head out of a back room and announced that he'd wanted to make us feel at home so he'd put some music from the South on for us! It was such a kind gesture, but so funny at the same time, since neither Daniel nor I have any real connection with New Orleans :) <br />
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After we finished all our inspections, we came back to the flat, then decided it would be nice to take our laptops and work at a coffee shop of some sort. Melbourne is known for its coffee, and there are little espresso bars and bakeries and cafes absolutely everywhere, so we assumed that we would just wander around a bit and run across a place. Instead, we ended up walking around for probably half an hour, only to never find a place that looked like a standard American coffeehouse with wi-fi where you can order a drink and then work for a while. We asked our flatmates when we got back about it, and it turns out that studying/working at coffeeshops is sort of an American thing (though there are a few places near the universities here that function that way, it's just not common). Generally, it seems that Australians go to coffee shops and bakeries and cafes to eat and socialize with each other instead of to do their work. It was an interesting cultural discovery (as well as one of the first things I think I might miss about America!)<br />
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Sunday we visited the church that we had heard about through several different avenues before coming here, and after service we went to lunch with one of the members there. I'm sure I'll write a separate post at some point about the church, but suffice it to say that it was a wonderful, wonderful first visit there.<br />
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Monday I met with my midwife for the first time, which went very well. It was definitely nice to finalize my medical care arrangements here so quickly. Daniel spent part of the day at work, and then that evening we went to another apartment inspection. Once again we decided not to apply for the unit we saw.<br />
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Tuesday Daniel went to work for a bit, and I met him there to go to another apartment inspection. We liked the place we saw and almost decided to apply for it, but ended up deciding against it. Last night, we went to yet another inspection, and this apartment was almost exactly what we were looking for. We came back to the flat and put in an application, so now we are waiting and hoping that maybe we will be accepted for it!<br />
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Today looks to be quite similar to yesterday...we have two inspections to go to...until we land a place our lives pretty much revolve around going to these inspections! I'm hoping we secure an apartment soon, partly for peace of mind as far as knowing we have a place to live, but partly as well so we can spend some of our free time exploring some of the neat things in Melbourne that we haven't had time to go see yet! That being said, though, it's hard to believe we accomplished so much in just our first week here: Daniel started his job, we have phones, I have a midwife, we've found a church that we liked on the first visit, and we've applied for an apartment. In some ways it feels like we've been here longer than a week. :)<br />
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I know this post got a bit lengthy, I think I should probably not attempt to write up an entire week in one post! I'll split it up more in the future. If you've hung on this long, thanks for reading! And a big thank you to all our friends and family who've been so sweet and supportive during our move here, and continue to be that way. We love you all!<br />
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Love,<br />
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Victoria (and Daniel!)Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07678821253355157179noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7498753723631098256.post-35964366404348387522013-06-29T17:08:00.001-05:002013-06-29T17:08:13.798-05:00Moving ProgressWell, our first things are officially on their way to Melbourne! We packed up our books today and sent them on their way, after a long ordeal of trying to find out how to use our selected shipping option. We are sending our books in an M-bag via the US Postal Service. An M-bag is a special class of mail that you can only send non-commercial printed material in, and apparently a lot of the Postal Service staff has never been adequately trained on what an M-bag is! After extensive web research, phone calls, and three trips to the post office, Daniel was finally able to get the correct information we needed to get our books shipped.<br />
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And in case anyone's curious, here's what an M-bag looks like (before it's all sealed up at the top, at least):<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVvqL1WiFDvHFXap1nHIgoxMgdhj2PP1xdVQ96hBXUbGdfut6RDoWa5UxEh-fDu9fy3u2OiSr6DXxUmwM9gcZDb94E9lMZSv4LH8rjeZK3gS9yZn625SPTiO4hz3Eaxci6kve8cxuPJXk/s1600/DSCI1242.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVvqL1WiFDvHFXap1nHIgoxMgdhj2PP1xdVQ96hBXUbGdfut6RDoWa5UxEh-fDu9fy3u2OiSr6DXxUmwM9gcZDb94E9lMZSv4LH8rjeZK3gS9yZn625SPTiO4hz3Eaxci6kve8cxuPJXk/s320/DSCI1242.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>Other than shipping books, we've also been busy finishing administrative things like notifying banks and credit cards of our move, learning Australian customs regulations, picking up last minute supplies, changing insurance policies, and so on. And of course, we've been slowly but steadily packing up the apartment...as proof, here's what our living room looks like right now:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdjT3cfSktJiCGs7VTbBytsmMLHJzYq-JX5Ri3JBsd24J_98uEVtQ7qii1s4IRoXvSBNHl4pf9tkITRltfAVLT67DAbYiVxUuN-NdVn-IOvz_WaVRWgTTZ-my7C3U9QkO-VadCHNkY1vQ/s1600/DSCI1244.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdjT3cfSktJiCGs7VTbBytsmMLHJzYq-JX5Ri3JBsd24J_98uEVtQ7qii1s4IRoXvSBNHl4pf9tkITRltfAVLT67DAbYiVxUuN-NdVn-IOvz_WaVRWgTTZ-my7C3U9QkO-VadCHNkY1vQ/s320/DSCI1244.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
6 days till we load the moving truck, 9 days till we take off!<br />
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~VictoriaVictoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07678821253355157179noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7498753723631098256.post-33628456620863444692013-06-17T21:38:00.001-05:002013-06-17T21:38:30.511-05:00Melbourne FAQsAs Daniel and I have been sharing the news of our impending move to Melbourne, we've gotten lots of questions, ranging from ones about the city of Melbourne itself, the moving process, and what our lives will be like once we arrive . Particular ones come up over and over again, so I thought I'd collect them here for a handy dandy one stop guide to our FAQs :)<br />
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1. Where is Melbourne?<br />
Melbourne is located in southeastern Australia, in the state of Victoria (good name, right?) It is the capital of Victoria. The city sits at the top of Port Phillip, a natural bay that you can actually spot on a world map, it's the little dip up at the very tip of the Australian continent.<br />
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2. How big is Melbourne?<br />
Melbourne is home to somewhere around 4,246,345 people (according to Wikipedia), making it the most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia (Sydney beats it out at an estimated population of 4,667,283.)<br />
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3. What is Melbourne like?<br />
Melbourne (at least as far as we can tell from our research) is a vibrant urban center. It is known as the cultural capital of Australia, and is home to numerous art, music and theater venues, as well as some of Australia's most famous sporting venues and events. The city also has an impressive food scene, including a special emphasis on artisan coffee (a huge plus for Daniel and me!)<br />
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4. Do kangaroos wander the streets in Melbourne? (Yes, we've actually been asked this.)<br />
No, they do not. Kangaroos, much like most wild animals, have no desire to be in areas crowded with people, buildings, and cars.<br />
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5. What is the weather like in Melbourne?<br />
As far as we can tell, weather in Melbourne is fairly moderate. Summer is from December to February, with the average temperature during that time being around 78 degrees. Winter is from June to August, and the average temperature is around 57 degrees.<br />
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6. How far is Melbourne from Sydney?<br />
Melbourne is about 8 hours by car from Sydney.<br />
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7. Does Melbourne have public transportation? <br />
Yes, they have a system consisting of trams, buses, and trains. Taxis are also available, though apparently quite expensive. We will be using the public transport system extensively, as we are not planning to have a vehicle while living in the city.<br />
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8. What currency does Australia use?<br />
Australia uses the Australian dollar. The exchange varies day to day, but for the last few years it is has generally been worth a tiny amount more than the US dollar.<br />
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9. What time is it in Melbourne?<br />
Melbourne is 14 hours ahead of Eastern time in the United States, meaning if it is 1:00 am Eastern time in the United States, it is 3:00 pm in Melbourne on the same calendar day.<br />
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9. Will your baby have dual citizenship since she will be born in Australia?<br />
No. The United States is somewhat unusual in granting citizenship solely for being born on its soil. Australia does not grant automatic citizenship to children born to foreign citizens, however, if we stayed for the majority of our child's first 10 years, then on her 10th birthday she would be granted Australian citizenship. Since we're coming back in no more than three years, that won't happen...we'll have an all American baby, plain and simple. :)<br />
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10. Are you taking things from the US to Melbourne?<br />
Yes, though we aren't taking much. Due to the cost of shipping, we've decided to store all of our furniture as well as most of our household goods while we are in Melbourne. We will replace the most essential items once we have an apartment in the city. So we'll mainly be taking things like clothes, books, DVDs, games, and sentimental items with us from the States.<br />
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Have more questions for us? Let us know in the comments! :D<br />
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~Victoria <br />
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Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07678821253355157179noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7498753723631098256.post-83578327478634784772013-06-08T09:00:00.000-05:002013-06-09T18:03:01.300-05:00One Month and Counting!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One month from today, Daniel and I will be boarding a plane bound for Melbourne, Australia, a place we've never been. When we land in Melbourne, it will be two full days later, thanks to the crazy time change involved in flying halfway around the world. We will set foot in a new country, on a new continent, in a place entirely new to us, and begin the process of making it our home for the next three years. Sitting here typing this it still doesn't feel real, even though we've been making <br />
preparations for the move for months. We have Australian visas, an Australian bank account, plane tickets, and a place to stay when we arrive, but it still hasn't quite sunk in. Maybe it won't until I set foot, jet lagged and exhausted, on Australian soil for the first time.<br />
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Despite the overwhelming and sometimes scary aspects of undertaking a move across the globe, we could not be more excited. Living abroad is something we have talked about wanting since we were only dating, and now, here we are, as a couple married almost one year and parents to be, with this amazing opportunity to fulfill our dream. We are so very blessed in so many ways.<br />
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But of course, we can't make this journey without the love and support of our friends and family, and that's where this blog comes in. The plan is to keep this blog updated with our experiences in moving and settling into Melbourne, and then to continue sharing pieces of our life there, especially when our little one arrives. Being so far away from everyone we love is the largest obstacle we face in this move, and we hope to use this blog to stay connected a bit more than we might be able to otherwise. (The blog has the added advantage of allowing only people who are interested in what we're up to to keep up with what we share, so we don't swamp uninterested folks Facebook newsfeeds with our updates!)<br />
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So if you want to share a little bit of our experience as Shanks Down Under, then follow us via Blogger or keep an eye on my Facebook page, where I'll post a link each time we update the blog!<br />
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30 days and counting....!!!!<br />
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Love,<br />
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Victoria<br />
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<br />Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07678821253355157179noreply@blogger.com0